Political Quotes

“Mr. President, in the midst of all of this tax debate and the partisan wrangling and the gridlock that has ensued--and today we will have another couple of tax votes, and, again, real progress will be stalled--I would like to offer a bipartisan thought that will lead to a solution. As a matter of fact, I think there are over 50 Senators of the 100-Senator body who agree that deficit reduction can be done, and done in a comprehensive way. I think partisan politics, all mixed up in election-year politics of a Presidential election, is getting in the way, and I think that is what we are going to see being played out this afternoon on the floor of the Senate. What would that solution be? Well, if our target is that we want to reduce the deficit over a 10-year period by at least $4 trillion--that was clearly where the Simpson-Bowles Commission was going; that was clearly where the Gang of 6, which morphed into 45 of us who last summer stood and had a press conference and talked about $4 trillion- plus in deficit reduction, was going--if that is what our goal is, and as others have spoken out here, if we could get that kind of deficit reduction agreement for a 10-year period, what we would have is a shot of confidence into the economy, and we would see this economic engine start to roar more to life, other than the gradual economic recovery we are seeing--indeed, a recovery of 27 straight months of private sector job growth, but albeit a slow economic recovery.…”