Political Quotes

“I rise to speak to the issue on the floor before the Senate, the vote we will take later today on two competing plans for our path forward. As the Presiding Officer and I and all of the Members of this Chamber know, our national debt and our deficit are enormous. They are unsustainable. Last week an array of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle came to the Senate floor one after the other to make exactly that point. Members of both parties agree excessive debt hurts our competitiveness, that it causes interest rates to rise, and it crowds out critical investments in our country's future. My own experience in the private sector and 6 years of tough budget balancing as a county executive in my home State of Delaware taught me how important it is to have responsible budget processes in place to manage our way through difficult financial times, to create opportunity for our communities while still reducing our deficits and debt. There is no question that high debt levels lead to lower growth in the long run, and it can restrain or starve or strangle the dreams of our communities, our children, for our future. Our deficit and debt is a ticking time bomb, and everyone--Republicans and Democrats, Independents, economists, experts, working families, small business owners, the American people--knows that we want to and have to deal with it. But the key, in my view, is to deal with this problem responsibly and fairly and in a way that reflects America's best.…”