Political Quotes

“Again, you have got to have a Federal nexus somewhere. If you are spending taxpayers' money, it helps to say why in the world should the Federal Government be involved at all. I would submit that if you argue that the Federal Government should be paying for playgrounds around the country, where does it stop? Where is there no Federal nexus? What is the Federal Government not responsible for? How in the world would our deficit stay at $1.47 trillion this year if we say the Federal Government is in charge of all playground-building around the country? I would remind my colleagues, when we vote on these amendments, these are specific amendments to save specific money on specific earmarks. And you can't get by with saying, well, that was indiscriminate cuts and it would have affected this program or that. We are talking about here on these four amendments saving money on street beautification. Where is the Federal nexus there? On a bike path in Rhode Island, where is the Federal nexus? Why is the Federal Government doing that when we have a deficit of $1.47 trillion and a debt of $13.2 trillion? Why in the world, when every citizen of this country is in debt more than $40,000, why in the world are we saying we are going to pile more on you simply because we can't control ourselves here? I would urge you again, you are going to have to go home and not say, well, I voted against an amendment that would have cut that program indiscriminately.”