Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we are talking today about the balanced budget amendment that we will soon be voting on again. There have been several different kinds of comments made about the need for the balanced budget, probably the two most prominent being, No. 1, the fact that in the short-term we will all be financially better off if the Federal budget is in balance interest rates will immediately begin to come down. All economists agree that interest rates will drop once the market understands that we are going to balance the Federal budget. That 1-, 2-, or 2.7-percent drop in interest rates, depending on which economist you believe, means Americans will have more money to put in their pockets immediately. In my home State of Arizona, the average home mortgage is just under $100,000. The interest that would be saved as a result of balancing the budget for every Arizonan with that average home mortgage would amount to $2,655 every year--$2,655. This is real money. For the average student loan it is $547. So, if we here in the Congress can pass a balanced budget amendment and send that to the States for ratification, the markets will adjust, will lower interest rates, and all of us will benefit as a result of that, through immediate financial savings.”