Political Quotes

“Let me begin by thanking my friend the Senator from Arkansas and my friend the Senator from Maine for their fine work on this very important issue in trying to protect the needs of our kids. I thank them very much. What I wish to talk about for a short period of time is the budget situation. I am a member of the Budget Committee. The Budget Committee, I believe, will be marking up the budget in committee tomorrow. I believe it will be on the floor sometime next week. This entire process of determining a budget is enormously important, because it reflects the priorities of the American people and it reflects our values. It is no different than any family budget. It has everything to do with where we choose to spend our resources and how we raise our resources. So it is an issue of enormous importance. As a member of the Budget Committee, I am going to be looking at this budget within a context of four major concerns. No. 1, as I go around my State of Vermont and, in fact, America and talk to a whole lot of people, I think the American people understand, even as Congress and the White House may not, that the middle class in this country today is in the midst of a collapse, and I use that word advisedly. Despite a huge increase in worker productivity, great strides forward in technology, there are tens of millions of American workers today who are working longer hours for lower wages. Poverty in America is increasing.”