On the recordApril 12, 2011
The spending debate in Washington boils down to a couple of fundamentals: We spend 23 percent of our GDP; that is the level of spending of Congress. The revenues to GDP are only 18 percent. So you have a 5 percent difference in what your revenues are and what your spending is. Years of doing this means that, right now, for every dollar we spend, 40 cents is borrowed. You can't continue to defy gravity. This week, we will consider the Ryan budget. It has tax reform; it has spending reform; it has regulatory reform--all things that are very good. I'm glad to see that the President will be reintroducing another budget this week, because I think it's very important that if you do not like the Republican Ryan budget, that's fine, but put your budget on the table because surely the Democrat Party has some ideas. So far all we've heard from the Democrats is criticism. That's not good enough in times like these. We've got to come together as a country to do what's best not for the next election but for the next generation and, indeed, for our future. ____________________
