Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to speak on a subject that often goes overlooked in this body. The subject of wasteful spending on parochial pet projects is often treated as a trivial matter--simply the cost of doing business around here. Imagine if every Member of Congress were as obsessed with searching for government waste as the players of the mobile game Pokemon Go are obsessed with finding the elusive Pokemon, as the chart shows here. Just like the monsters in the popular game, government pork projects come in all shapes and sizes. They pop up just about everywhere. As individual expenses, these pet projects can seem rather harmless--cute, even. But taken together, their cost adds up to one very menacing boondoggle debt monster that continues to grow and threaten every taxpayer. In fact, within days, the U.S. national debt will top $20 trillion. As we debate the budget resolution, we need to get serious about controlling the debt like the true national security challenge it is. We start by eliminating unnecessary spending and catching government waste. My friend and former colleague Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma created an annual report cataloging some of the most egregious ways Washington wastes our tax dollars. It is called the Wastebook. Today, I am releasing the latest installment, which profiles 50 new examples of questionable expenditures.…”