Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator from Rhode Island not only for his important remarks but for the work he has been doing for years to protect and defend Social Security. Let's be clear about a number of facts. When people jump up and say Social Security is going broke--not quite true. As Senator Whitehouse indicated, Social Security can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 18 years. When people jump up and say Social Security is contributing to the deficit--also not quite accurate. As everybody knows, Social Security is funded by the payroll tax, an independent source of revenue for Social Security. The fact is that for many, many years, in a variety of ways, my Republican colleagues have been attempting to either cut Social Security or, in the extreme case, privatize Social Security and allow-- force--Americans to go to Wall Street for their retirement benefits. While this budget does not include a provision to cut Social Security, what I will say is, if my memory is correct, in three out of the four hearings held by the Budget Committee, there were Republican representatives--people who were asked to testify--who did talk about various ways to cut Social Security. So what this amendment does is it establishes a deficit-neutral reserve fund--it establishes a budget point of order which prevents benefit cuts, a raise in the retirement age, or the privatization of Social Security benefits. That is what it does.…”