Date: 2005-04-26
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Exactly. Once you get permission. And. believe me. I. know that is definitely something that moms need to grant. or potential moms need to grant permission on. But we have little kids. and anyone out there that is a parent can understand what I am going to talk about now in this way. It is mindboggling that the President has not gotten off. after 60 days. the concept of privatization. I liken it to when my children do not like that I have told them no and they stamp their feet and they throw a tantrum. Now. I generally try not to give in. like we are not. I feel like the Democratic Caucus in the House and Senate are the parents of a child in the White House throwing a temper tantrum. who is insisting that he get his way. And regardless of how many times he is told that he cannot have his way. that sometimes we have to compromise. sometimes we cannot have it exactly the way we want it. just like I explain to my children and I try to sit down and rationally explain to them that we are going to try to give you some of what you want but you are not going to have it all your way. he continues to stamp his foot just like my kids sometimes do. It was not lost on me that that was an appropriate analogy. I am certainly hopeful. like I am hopeful with my own kids. that one day they will grow out of it. We keep waiting for the President to grow out of the temper tantrums. It should not be surprising. because we come from a State where his sibling engages in similar activities. It seems to be a family trait. They do not seem to get the message when they are told by their constituents that they are not in agreement with what they are suggesting. They do not appear to be willing to let go and come to the table and compromise. Now. another analogy I want to draw would be if we were. as Democrats. sticking our heads in the sand because we support Social Security so strongly. If we were here saying there is no problem. Social Security is fine. we should not do anything. then we would be just as guilty as the President and the leadership of this Congress are. But we are not saying that. What we have said from day one is that there is no crisis. that the crisis is manufactured. as my colleague from Ohio said. that we acknowledge that there is a problem. but there is not a problem that reaches anything that we should be significaitly concerned about until we in this 30something Working Group are well into our seventies. Literally. 36 years from now. in 2041. I will be 74 years old. long past retirement age. When we ask most of our peers. if you ask your friends and our neighbors and friends who are our age. do you think Social Security is going to be there for you. most of our peers do notthink it will. But the reality is that it will be there even if we do nothing. And we are not suggesting that we not do anything. We are suggesting that. just like in 1983. that reasonable people on both sides of this debate should come to the table. should try to find some common ground. and should not continue to kick and scream and insist that it is their way or the highway. Another thing that I wanted to point out. and this is difficult to say. but it is hard to feel that the President is sincere on this issue. When I have a town hall meeting. and I am sure it is this way for.my colleagues. I know it is for my colleague from Florida because I have done town hall meetings with him. I really want to know what people think. That is why I do not screen or ask for tickets or check peoples opinion at the door. Literally. the Secret Service this week sent agents to Denver to probe allegations by three area Democrats that they were ousted from President Bushs March 21 event. The three did not stage any protest at the rally and were later told by the Secret Service they were removed because their vehicle displayed an antiBush bumper sticker. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the man who removed them was a GOP volunteer. but apparently Mr. McClellan refused to divulge his name or whether he works in Colorado or Washington. What Mr. McClellan said to this reporter is if someone is coming to an event to disrupt it. they are going to be asked to leave. Apparently. if you have an opinion that differs from the Presidents and from the message that is designed for that particular town hall meeting. you are not welcome. even if you plan on sitting there and saying nothing. Now. I heard the Presidents State of the Union. I heard his Inaugural address. and I heard him talk about democracy. I heard him talk about promoting democracy around the woid and how important it was that the greatest democracy in the world set an example. that we be the shining beacon of democracy around the world and that we export democracy. EQ 2115 Well. you know what. how do we do that if we are not setting the best example of what democracy is all about. Would we like it if other nations. other fledgling democracies. started mirroring the conduct that the President is engaged in? I do not think so. I think if we heard an independent news report about some of the activities that the President has engaged in in this debate. we would be outraged.