Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, we have heard today from a towering figure of our times, the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Rostenkowski]. He spoke eloquently on the reasons that he believes tax increases should be easy for Congress to enact. We have also heard today by letter from another towering figure of our time, Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman, an economist now at Stanford University. "The deficit," he says, and I am quoting, "is a symptom of our problem, not the real problem. The real problem is the level of government spending." The chart to my left makes that case dramatically. In 1969 to 1973, a 5-year period, total Federal spending was less than President Clinton's budget for fiscal 1994. Annual spending has increased from that date until now by 800 percent. Next year's deficit is going to comprise 60 percent of just the new spending over 1993 levels. Federal spending is the problem. Here is what Dr. Friedman says about how to fix it: "There is one way and one way only to reverse the trend that has now prevailed for more than half a century," this trend, "limit taxes." That is exactly what Barton-Tauzin does.…”