"Congress alone has the constitutional power to tax, to borrow, and to spend. We regulate our borrowing through the debt limit."
"If you are paying your home mortgage with your credit card, and that is essentially what this country is doing at the moment..."
"That is why we dare not increase the debt without also correcting what is causing it."
"Within 5 years, it will consume more than we now spend for our entire defense establishment."
"The interest on that debt is the fastest-growing component of the Federal budget."
"The United States now staggers under $19 trillion of debt, nearly half of it run up in the last 8 years."
"Our government's good credit is vital to everything that we do here. And there are two ways to wreck that credit: by borrowing too much; or by failing to pay it back on time and in full."
"And just a few years ago, then-Senator Barack Obama vigorously opposed an increase in the debt limit sought by the Bush Administration."
"Every billion dollars is about $8 from an average family's taxes..."
"Nothing surprises me about the mendacity of this Administration anymore."
"The elected representatives of the city and county whose people pay the taxes and whose livelihoods and quality of life depend upon these projects?"