Judd Gregg

Why would we do it? Because it makes no sense, from the standpoint of policy.

Your careers may end happily before the reckoning. Your reelections may not be threatened by your inaction. But your consciences should be.

I would suggest that on issues that involve all Americans, where pretty much everybody is affected, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and tax reform, that if you push forward in a partisan way, at least 50 percent, maybe a little less…

I subscribe to Senator Gregg's emphasis on value-based reimbursement. I think we're making progress on Medicare. It's not hopeless.

The classic example of this is ObamaCare. It was pushed through on a partisan vote.

In the end, you have to pay the debt ceiling because otherwise the government can't function, and the effect of that would be catastrophic.

Had it been actually a legislative vehicle versus a commission, we probably would be out of the woods right now on our deficit and debt issues.

The budget process is dysfunctional. That's a generous term for it.

To those still in denial, or even advocating steps that would make our debts even higher, please reconsider.

I happen to think that if you're going to do budgets and you're going to pass budgets on a partisan basis, the budget becomes irrelevant.

A lot of that economic growth was driven by a bubble, and I don't really think we want to revisit that.

The policies behind getting these numbers under control are extremely difficult politically, because they involve very tough decisions.