Political Quotes

“I rise tonight simply to add my voice to those voices that have spoken out. As I sat back and listened, all too often on this floor we talk in kind of government-speak. We talk about the Barton amendment or the tax limitation amendment. In Arizona when we carried this debate forward, we called it the supermajority amendment. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people back home who perhaps do not understand those terms. But it is really straightforward, and it is important that people understand. Paul Harvey has said, and I admire him greatly, that self-government without self-discipline does not work. Tomorrow there will be a historic vote on the floor of this House. It is a vote which is focused around that notion. That is, that to preserve self-government, we must institute self-discipline. And what is the form of that self-discipline? It is a change to the United States Constitution. But it is a change that many people in this body I do not believe understand yet and that many people at home may not yet understand. Oh, they understand that we will vote tomorrow on a balanced budget amendment, and they understand that the Federal Government must balance its budget because they know they have to balance their own budget. And they are very much aware that we are awash in Washington in a sea of red ink that is literally drowning the Nation and threatening our survival.”