Political Quotes

“Mr. President, within a matter of days, our national debt will top $20 trillion, notching another ominous milestone in our Nation's long-running addiction to spending. How did we get here? A decade ago, taxpayers learned that many of their elected representatives were complicit in an insidious practice that rotted the legislative branch to its core, and that is congressional earmarking. Called a ``gateway drug'' by our distinguished former colleague from Oklahoma, Senator Tom Coburn, earmarks have long exacerbated the Federal Government's spending addiction. As old as the Republic, earmarks have always been used by generations of politicians as currency to curry favor with well-connected special interests. After public outrage reached a critical mass, both the House and the Senate instituted bans on earmarking, ending what had been a corrupt pay-to-play culture in Congress. In order to preserve this important check against the corrupting influence of earmarks, I recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump respectfully urging him to veto any legislation containing earmarks that reaches his desk. I thank my colleagues, Senators John McCain, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Ben Sasse, for cosigning this letter. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the following letter. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: U.S. Senate, Washington, DC, March 7, 2017. President Donald J.…”