Political Quotes

“I know the Senator from Texas spends a tremendous amount of time on appropriations issues and knows a great deal about this, and she knows more than me if we wiped out all discretionary spending-- which this year will be capped at $1.47 trillion--we still wouldn't wipe out the budget deficit. So the Senator is absolutely correct. We could do away with all defense spending, all educational spending, all research and development, and we could still not cause our budget not to have a deficit. Let me give a stat--and I talk about this a lot back home, and I am so glad the Senator has given me this opportunity. The average American worker earns $43,500 today. So in a two-wage- earner family, that is $87,000. Over their lifetime, in today's dollars, that family will pay into the Medicare Program $119,000, and that includes the part the employer pays on their behalf. So between what they pay in and the employer--and the Senator from Texas has been an employer before and knows about paying the Medicare taxes into the system--that combined amount of money for the average American family is $119,000 in today's dollars. That same family, if they retired, would take out of the system, over their lifetime, $357,000. Now think about that. That is in today's dollars. Again, $119,000 going into Medicare on their behalf and $357,000 coming out of Medicare. I think most people in this body--even people who haven't been in business--realize we cannot make that up with volume.…”