Political Quotes

“Vice President Biden has been kind enough to host discussions--starting last week and going into this week and perhaps beyond--with Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives to try to find a way to reduce the huge debt that hangs over the United States, as a prelude, I am sure he would put it, to the Congress acting on the President's request that Congress increase the debt ceiling. There have been generally two ways suggested on how to deal with our debt. Many Democrats believe the wealthy in the United States do not pay enough taxes, and therefore one way to reduce the debt is for taxes to be increased, especially on the wealthy. Most Republicans believe that is a bad idea, that since debt is our problem and we got into debt because we have been spending too much, the better way for us to deal with the problem is to begin reducing our spending and to make sure over the years we are able to do that. There are a couple of interesting things that have just come out in the news recently that I think bear on this argument. A lot of folks wonder about the debt burden in the United States, and I think it is useful to point out the fact that last week the Wall Street Journal reported that the Joint Committee on Taxation found that ``the percentage of U.S. households paying no federal income tax . . . reached 51% for [the year] 2009.'' I think that is the first time in the history of America that over half of Americans didn't pay Federal income taxes.…”