Mike Rounds Quotes

In my opinion we don't take care of our disabled people well enough. We don't take care of our elderly well enough. We should honor them more than we do.

It was once said that the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.

Anything that we can do to improve the lives of elderly people is welcome so far as I am concerned.

I am proud that we worked so hard to improve seniors' lives.

Doing right by our seniors isn't just about making the right decisions today - it's about ensuring that every generation of Americans can have a strong and secure future.

While we recognise the challenges councils are facing, we do expect to see them match our commitment to the most vulnerable.

As a member of the Aging Committee, I'm no stranger to fighting for America's seniors.

The baby boomer surge is forcing society to face decisions about costs - and particularly what is valuable. It's senseless for clinicians and governments to bear these choices alone; a sad effect of needless paternalism is that it places a false burden on responsible people.

I don't want to come to Washington to be just another vote. I want to lead on issues that are important.

The problems of aging present an opportunity to rethink our social and personal lives in order to ensure the dignity and welfare of each individual.

Like all good citizens, the elderly and people with disabilities want to eradicate waste and fraud from government, but helping people with special needs meet their basic needs doesn't fit this description.

I am certain no one sets out to be cruel, but our treatment of the elderly ill seems to have no philosophy to it. As a society, we should establish whether we have a policy of life at any cost.

I don't think that care homes are all rotten old places that ought to be shut down.

I agree with President Roosevelt, and generations since, that American seniors deserve better than poverty.

We have a responsibility as a state to protect our most vulnerable citizens: our children, seniors, people with disabilities. That is our moral obligation. But there is an economic justification too - we all pay when the basic needs of our citizens are unmet.

The elderly are all someone's flesh and blood and we cannot just shut them in a cupboard and hand over the responsibility for taking care of them to the state.

As pressure grows to ease the financial burden on social security, pressure will also grow to eliminate the elderly and infirm to 'free up' more money for the 'fit' and those who contribute more than they take from society.

To me, politics is an extension of what I do in medicine.

I never get involved in policy. Never.

Could we do without the social safety net, without Social Security, without Medicare, without farm subsidies, without unemployment compensation, without school lunch programs, without housing assistance? Of course we could. But we would not be a civilized society and we would not be an American nation any of us would be proud of.

In the service of the people we followed such a policy that socialism would not lose its human face.

I do not believe that older Americans should be forced to live out their lives in poverty, their tiny savings destroyed by illness. Dependent upon their relatives. Feeling unwanted by their country.

In advanced age, and in cases of disability from accident, natural infirmity or any other cause, the individual shall be supported by the colony, and receive every comfort which kindness can administer

We must recognize that the safety and welfare of our people are the real national security issues.

A major goal of good government is that the people with gray hair should not be seen carrying burdens on the street.