Mark Warner: “Mr. President, we are almost parallel in thought here, certainly parallel in thought for the need to help the retirees.…”

“Mr. President, we are almost parallel in thought here, certainly parallel in thought for the need to help the retirees. I have been privileged to be in this institution 22 years. This is the first time, I say to my colleague, we have ever taken a step to provide for retirees. No one can refute that. If I may say, to push aside a little humility, it came from this side of the aisle. It was not in President Clinton's budget. It hasn't been in any of his budgets. We took the initiative. We have done it carefully step by step. I commend my colleague for his leadership on this issue. Indeed, it is the interest in his bill which has been garnered across our land that has helped our committee to, step by step, begin to increase these provisions.”