Political Quotes

“Without a capital budget provision, I fear, this amendment could skew the way we spend money, and in a way that could hurt the long-term future investments this country needs. It does not have to be this way. In committee I offered an amendment to provide for a capital budget. It was modeled on the capital budget provisions in the States, including my own State of Delaware. My amendment established a capital budget for major public physical capital investments. It limited that budget to 10 percent of total outlays--about what the Federal Government has spent on such items in recent years. It required a three-fifths vote of both Houses to place any item within that capital budget. My amendment was not designed to build a loophole into a balanced budget amendment. Under my amendment, it would not be easier to treat an item as a capital budget item as opposed to a current item. It would be harder. It would require a three-fifths vote. But it would be right. My amendment failed in committee. Without a capital budget provision, I fear that, not right away but as the years go by, this amendment may skew the way the country invests for the future and we may be able to balance our budget in the end, but we will not spend our money as wisely as we should.”