Political Quotes

“The bottom line for me, Mr. President, is that this proposed constitutional amendment does not balance the budget. It dodges the issue because it depends on Congress passing implementation legislation by the year 2002. What if it were fully implemented? The sponsors are optimistic that it will be fully implemented. I think they are overly optimistic, for all the reasons which I have stated and a whole bunch more. It is going to be very difficult for Congress to agree on how to make cuts in legislation which will automatically sequester, which will determine who will make the cuts, which will determine what all of the hundreds of other decisions are that have to be made so that we can have a balanced budget assured. Let us assume for a minute that the sponsors' optimism is borne out and we kick the can down the road to the Congress 7 years from now and we say: You folks pass implementation legislation. I do not think that is a responsible thing to do. In fact, I think what we are likely to do by kicking the can down the road to a future Congress, instead of acting ourselves on either the implementation legislation or the cuts, is to increase the deficit.”