Political Quotes

“I am on the floor this afternoon to talk about the issue not only of the day, the week, the month, the year, it is the issue about what to do about the deficit. Everyone around here knows that if we fail to raise the debt ceiling by the August 2 deadline, the United States will default on its loan payments. Defaulting could have catastrophic consequences on our economy as we attempt to recover from the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. Failing to raise the debt limit could send our economy into a tailspin with unthinkable results for the American people. With the stakes so high, we must ask ourselves: How did we get into this position? Or as my constituents back home in Alaska say: How did you get into this mess? Over the last decade, both sides of the aisle have played a role in this irresponsible spending that resulted in our current fiscal crisis. At the beginning of the last decade, we had a budget surplus--let me say that again--a budget surplus of $200 billion, with a projected surplus of $5 trillion for the next 10 years. By the time I took office in 2009, not only had our budget surplus disappeared, we faced a budget deficit of over $1 trillion. The creditworthiness of the United States is in jeopardy. Some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle oppose raising the debt ceiling, citing the need to rein in reckless spending.…”