Political Quotes

“I speak in favor of the PAYGO amendment introduced by my friend, and ranking member of the Budget Committee, Senator Conrad. This amendment, of which I am a cosponsor, seeks to fully reinstate the pay-as-you-go requirement for direct spending and revenue legislation in the Senate through 2011. During the 1990s, the Senate's PAYGO rule worked well to reduce Federal deficits, and the rule is badly needed today. Back then, PAYGO applied equally to increases in mandatory spending and decreases in revenue. It neither forced tax increases nor spending cuts but rather enforced fiscal balance and budget discipline. New spending or tax cuts could only become law if they were offset or found 60 votes in support. Unfortunately, the original PAYGO rules were abandoned to provide for a series of unfunded tax breaks. Those tax breaks were not paid for by reductions in Federal spending and there was only one way to pay for them--by increasing our deficit to historically high levels and borrowing more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claim, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. This budget does nothing to reduce our deficits and, in fact, makes them worse. Americans deserve better financial leadership. The people I talk to in Illinois are not fooled by what's going on.…”