Political Quotes

“I will one more time point out what should be the most important issue facing this body in 2026. I have talked before about the huge marriage penalties that we build into our income transfer programs, also known as welfare programs. When you add up the penalties that you have to endure if, say, a single mom marries a husband with an income, and we look at the food stamps, the low-income housing, the earned income tax credit, the TANF check, and the Pell grants, you can easily wind up in a situation in which you are penalized $25,000 a year if you get married. This is the primary reason why, in the 1950s, we only had about 4 percent of the newborn children in this country born without a mother and father at home, and now, we are over 40 percent. It is not difficult if people in this body would meet with some average people rather than the lobbyists or the big campaign contributors. It is very easy to find young people today who are not getting married specifically because they find that the Federal Government has almost a policy of punishing people who get married. Even the Republican Party in its big, beautiful bill has, as I count--maybe there are more--three programs in which we are penalizing married couples. I found out today on the tuition credits for private schools that we are supposed to brag about, there is a big marriage penalty there, as we punish people who want to go to private school who are married.”