Political Quotes

“I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania. In addition, we cannot afford to do this. Right now, we are collecting, before this tax cut goes into effect, 18 percent of our gross domestic product in taxes and revenue. We are spending 21 percent of our gross domestic product, and that leaves us with a deficit. Because this place lacks the courage to deal with the issues that we must confront, unlike our parents and grandparents, we have hollowed out discretionary spending. We are spending 35 percent less than we were in 1980 as a percentage of our GDP. Yesterday, we had testimony in the Armed Services Committee that we need a trillion additional dollars to modernize our defense. We know how dangerous this world is with what is happening on the Korean Peninsula and with what is happening in the Middle East. Why was it OK for our parents and grandparents to invest in us, but we are unwilling to invest in the next generation of Americans? Not only are we unwilling to invest in them, but we are saddling them with the debt that has arisen from our inability to make proper decisions. We are doing it now in plain sight of budget projections that show that the money is just not here. I think we have a decision to make as to whether we want to live up to the example our parents and grandparents set for us and whether we are willing to make the kinds of investments in the next generation that they were willing to make in us. I yield the floor.”