Connie Mack: “The question which is asked over and over again is--were you not elected to make those tough choices? And my answer is…”

“The question which is asked over and over again is--were you not elected to make those tough choices? And my answer is, ``yes,'' but we have failed. It would be wrong for us to go back to our constituencies and say, ``yes,'' we failed for the last 12 to 30 years because we cannot make tough spending cut decisions under the procedures currently in place. It seems to me we ought to come to the conclusion that we need to adjust the procedures to try to make them work. So we came up with a procedure. Yes, it is tough and, yes, it requires some tough action. But if we are really serious about getting control of Federal spending, it seems to me that the only way we are going to do that is to establish a commission like the Base Closure Commission.”