Political Quotes

“I have heard a lot of talk on the Senate floor, including from the last speaker, and certainly from the President of the United States about shared sacrifice. The White House spin is that the Democrats in the negotiations about extending the debt ceiling have conceded hundreds of billions of dollars in savings and Republicans have conceded nothing and therefore Republicans need to be willing to raise taxes. That is the mantra. That is the spin. But there are two things wrong with this spin: First, it is wrong as a matter of fact, as I will point out, and second, it would result in very bad policy. As Senator Rubio said a moment ago, the only thing that should be off the table is bad policy, and certainly anything that would hurt our economy and job creation at this time is bad policy. First with regard to the assertion from some in the White House that Democrats have made all the concessions and so it is the Republicans' turn--the last speaker, as a matter of fact, said, and I will quote her directly, ``Everybody pays except the rich.'' Well, I would like to point out why that is absolutely not the case. The negotiations Vice President Biden has presided over have talked about two different kinds of savings: on the discretionary side, which is the budget we deal with every year, and on the mandatory side, which is spending programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, some of TRICARE, some veterans' benefits, Social Security, and things of that sort.…”