Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the national debt is what actually pulled me and you and others, to some degree, into this political process. I have come to this floor many times over the last 4\1/2\ years to talk about this. Today, again, it is very timely. It is why I ran for the U.S. Senate. Today, we have--I just checked--$22.3 trillion, and it is going up $100,000 a second, as we speak. I have a debt clock in the reception area of my office, in the Russell Senate Office Building, and that thing spins all day long, 24 hours a day. Even more concerning, we have more than $130 trillion of future unfunded liabilities coming at us like a freight train over the next 30 years. That is $1 million for every household for every American. What we have learned is that we can't cut our way out of it, we can't tax our way out of it, and we can't grow our way out of it alone. Any one of these three will fall short. It has to be a combination. We have to have a balanced approach over the long haul to solve this $22 trillion of debt problem. I believe we will not solve this debt crisis unless and until we fix the way Congress funds the Federal Government. The current funding process is designed to fail. It really is. It doesn't work. It hasn't worked. It will never work. Since the Budget Act of 1974 was put in place, Congress has only funded the Federal Government on time four times.…”