Political Quotes

Bob Schaffer: That is actually the point I wanted to make, because I do not care who we are, whether we are a liberal over there in…

On the recordJune 30, 1999
That is actually the point I wanted to make, because I do not care who we are, whether we are a liberal over there in the White House or on the other side from where we stand, we do not just find $1 trillion laying around. We either know it was there, or maybe a portion of it. We just do not magically wake up one day and discover, hey, we have $1 trillion more cash than we thought. The point I was intending to get to here is this: That waving that $1 trillion surplus figure around to the American people really does send the green light, it sends the go signal to all of the lobbyists, all of the special interests, and even to many Members of this very Congress that, start smiling, it is time to spend again. We have money laying around. We really do not have huge piles of cash laying around Washington, D.C. There are lots of games and lots of manipulations that go into bragging about the size of this debt. There is no question that over the past few years, since the Republicans have taken over the control of Congress, we have slowed the rate of growth in Federal budgeting. We have done so to the extent that we have allowed the economy to catch up with us. But we do not have the trillions and trillions of dollars laying around Washington, D.C. to begin to start celebrating and spending.
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Bob Schaffer

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the implications of a reported $1 trillion surplus during a congressional debate.

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