Political Quotes

“I would like to mention the situation concerning the budget negotiations. As Senator Specter said, they are really eight-tenths of 1 percent from reaching agreement in dollars and cents. It constitutes more than $12 trillion over a 7-year period. There is $100 billion in difference now, which is eight-tenths of 1 percent. There are policy differences involved in this. But many of us have been striving to have a balanced budget for a long time. The first bill I introduced calling for a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, we came close to that amendment being adopted recently. I hope we return to it again. I hope it can be adopted. I am delighted to know that harmonious relations exist. There is nobody fussing right now about the other pertaining to the recess, as it is being called. But let me say this from the perspective of long-time negotiations of the settlement of lawsuits: You do not do too well with recesses. So my advice, if it is to mean anything, is get back together. You might want to recess a day or 2, or maybe a week at the longest, but recesses allow the reentrenchment of ideas, and therefore you do not have the give-and-take, you come fortified to maintain your position. It is a matter of trying to be reasonable in getting together. We are mighty close now. So let us not have too long a recess. Let us get back together. Certainly by the time the President makes his State of the Union Address, we ought to, by that time, have an agreement.”