But it is my understanding also for many it is free. Is that correct? For lower-income people it might be free?

Today Social Security has a $2.8 trillion surplus and can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 18 years.

if that massive transfer of wealth and income did not take place, Social Security would be in much better financial shape

Our job is to protect the middle class. Let us get to work doing that.

The fact of the matter is that over the last 40 years, under Democratic and Republican leadership, we have witnessed an enormous transfer of wealth from the middle class and the poor to multimillionaires and billionaires.

I happen to believe not only that we should not cut Social Security, but we should expand benefits.

This means, if that cut were to go through, that the average benefit of approximately $13,980 a year for a disabled person would be cut by $2,600 to $11,324.

I love the idea that we brought somebody from Europe to be with us today. I think that is a great idea, and I think we should do more of it.

You think we should have zero corporate taxes in America?

Instead of losing 800,000 jobs a month, as we were during the final months of the Bush administration, we are now creating some 250,000 jobs a month and are seeing steady job growth over the last 58 months.

Everybody has health insurance, so maybe we should have a hearing here as to how that works.

This issue was resolved quietly, non-controversially, I think a number of times under President Reagan.

14 years later, the Pentagon still cannot pass an audit.

Let us sit down and figure out how we do not kick the can down the road.

Is it not correct that if we did nothing more than restore the income and capital gains tax rates to where they were in 2000 for the wealthiest two percent of Americans earning $250,000 a year or more, that we could raise more than $200…

But bottom line is spending money on enforcement will bring in a lot more money than we are spending--

you hold people accountable.

the answer is spending is one cause of deficit, but not raising revenue is another cause of deficit.

I believe that Members of Congress should take a hard look and ask questions why from 2008 to 2013 companies like General Electric paid not a penny in Federal income taxes.

I feel very strongly that there is a third path, that there is a path to better care and lower costs.

Many of my Republican friends are in favor of cutting Social Security, cutting Medicare, cutting Medicaid, cutting nutrition programs for kids, while providing huge tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.

How does a person with a disability survive out on the street when the weather gets, in my State, 10 below zero?

If we are serious about lowering the deficit and the debt, the best way to do that is not by developing an austerity program which increases suffering for those already hurting.

In this country, do you know what the number is?

We must also consider the population that is under 65, because there will be a greater focus on prevention.