Political Quotes

“I would say, Madam President, Senator Voinovich is not a Johnny-come-lately on this subject. I recall, early in my time as Governor, working through the National Governors Association, the kind of leadership he provided, encouraging the Congress, the House and Senate, and then President Clinton, to pass and enact an unfunded mandates law. He played a major role in getting that done. It is kind of ironic that a decade or so later, we are back again and the issue is very much the same. I am pleased to see we stand today where we stood then. I am honored to be involved in this battle on the same side with Senator Voinovich and Senator Alexander. We have been joined on the floor by the former mayor of San Francisco, Senator Feinstein, and I see we have been joined on the floor by another former Governor, Governor Allen, who in this instance is our adversary but remains our very good friend. That having been said, I do have some other comments I would like to make. Let me observe we have gotten into some very bad habits here in Washington. We all know we are living beyond our means. We all know about our growing budget shortfall and our escalating level of indebtedness. We all know the most popular way to pay for things around here is simply to issue more and more debt on our Nation's credit card and on our taxpayers' dime. Moreover, we all know that our budget shortfall is actually bigger than we report it to be.”