Political Quotes

“I counted it up the other day. This is my 17th year of having the honor to represent my State of Alaska in this body. During that period I participated in seven separate debates on this floor on this very singular issue, and that is the amendment of our Constitution to require that the budget be balanced. A number of years ago, several of us unloaded a big van on the steps of the U.S. Senate. In that van were mailbags. And in those mailbags were letters from our constituents in overwhelming support of an amendment to the Constitution that would mandate a balanced budget. Mr. President, in 1982 the Senate adopted the amendment but it failed in the House. Since then, the amendment has failed in every year that we have engaged in this debate. In the intervening decade and a half annual Federal spending has increased nearly $1 trillion and our national debt has quadrupled. Mr. President, through this debate, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle have amply demonstrated the billions and trillions that we have been spending, and the meteoric rise of our national debt. I do not intend to repeat those numbers. As the 10-foot stack of budgets standing before me on the floor clearly show, for the past 28 years the Federal Government has been living on debt. I find that rather ironic, Mr. President, in view of the fact that you and I and our constituents back home have to balance, if you will, our checkbooks.”