Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I doubt that I can match the volume that's been displayed today, using partisan accusations as to who's responsible for the budget mess that we're in. But I think that all of us, we Republicans, for example, in our candid moments, would admit that we were headed toward this fiscal cliff long before the current President took the wheel. But we're in this together. It has been decisions made by Republicans and Democrats to expand entitlement programs and to expand discretionary spending that have put us in the situation we're in today. I think we would also concede that any bout of fiscal discipline we've had over the past couple of decades has been caused by--or at least accompanied by--statutory spending caps that have been put in place. The problem is those only last for a few years, and then this body simply waives them. So we need a backstop. We need a constitutional backstop that will force us to make decisions that we know have to be made. It is sad commentary on this body that we have to have a constitutional balanced budget amendment to force us to do our jobs of prioritizing spending, but I think with a $15 trillion deficit we can concede that we need it. So this won't make the decisions for us--we'll still have to make the tough decisions going ahead--but we need it, nonetheless. I urge adoption of this amendment.”