Political Quotes

“I would actually put it the other way around. Especially in times of economic difficulties--and I think we all agree that our economy is not in great shape right now; there is a discussion that we may even be in or very close to a recession--of course, the worst thing to do during that period is to give the Federal Government more revenue, to take more revenue out of the pockets of taxpayers, average Americans who have to pay attention to their own budgets. As a matter of fact, our problem is not the lack of Federal revenues. We are collecting more money now at the Federal Government level than the historic average over the last 40 years. I hardly think the Federal Government needs more revenue. I argue, instead, that our families need to keep more of the hard-earned revenue that is a result of the efforts of their families in working hard every day. It is true that because many on the Democratic side of the aisle have plans to spend more money, as my distinguished colleague from Vermont is suggesting, they therefore see a need to take money from taxpayers' pockets so that we in Washington, in our infinite wisdom, can make decisions about how that money should be spent. I think that is the wrong prescription virtually any time but certainly at a time when we may be heading into a recession.”