Cliff Stearns: “I fully endorse the concept of a lockbox and believe this is a good first step toward fulfilling our pledge to the…”

“I fully endorse the concept of a lockbox and believe this is a good first step toward fulfilling our pledge to the American people. We made a promise that we will spare future generations from being asked to bear the brunt of paying for our follies. When I heard the gentlewoman from California talk, and the gentleman from Idaho talk, I thought to myself, they would be interested to know that even Thomas Jefferson supported the lockbox. So I went back into his writings and I have a quote for my colleagues. It says, I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication of offices and salaries merely to make partisans, that is, just pass something to get votes, and for increasing by every device the public debt on the principle of it being a public blessing. In effect, when he was talking about ridding the national debt by taking possible savings, he was actually talking about a lockbox. My colleagues probably did not know that, but I thought I would share that with them. I am a cosponsor of this bill and proud to speak in its behalf.”