Political Quotes

“What is really very clear, I do not think there is any debate on this, is the Speaker and the House leadership understands that if that bill came before the House, as the gentleman has just indicated, the vast majority of the people would vote for it because they would be embarrassed to go back home and say, ``we voted against campaign finance reform.'' But if it does not come before the floor of the House, they do not have to make that vote. Now, we are running out of time. The gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) has recently made I think a very important contribution in terms of this whole discussion over Social Security. As the gentleman knows, we hear very often about how Social Security is going bankrupt, there is no money in it, and blah, blah, blah, which happens to be untrue. Right now, if the United States Congress does nothing, which I think is not a good idea, I think we should act, Social Security will be able to pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 34 years. So that is not a system on the verge of bankruptcy. But as we become an older society and as people live longer, there are problems that we must address.”