Somehow it's being characterized in broad brushes. Wasteful spending? That starts sounding more like politics.

My sense is that despite partisan differences, despite regional differences and different priorities, everybody is concerned about the legacy we're leaving to our children.

We cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next…

Joe and I can't think of a more tenacious and efficient guardian of the hard-earned tax dollars the American people have entrusted us to wisely invest.

Somehow it's being characterized in broad brushes, wasteful spending. That starts sounding more like politics.

I think John has also been extraordinarily consistent and sincere about these issues.

When I hear people say, 'Well, there's -- there's a lot of waste in this program,' well, from my perspective at least, keeping teachers in the classrooms is not wasteful. From my perspective, tax cuts to 90 percent of working families is…

The casual dishonesty of hiding irresponsible spending with clever accounting tricks, the costly overruns, the fraud and abuse, the endless excuses; this is exactly what the American people rejected when they went to the polls.

But I just want us to not lose perspective of the fact that most of the things that have been the topic of argument over the last several days amount to a fraction of the overall stimulus package.

When I hear people say, well, there's a lot of waste in this program, well, from my perspective at least, keeping teachers in the classroom is not wasteful. From my perspective, tax cuts to 95 percent of working families is not wasteful.

We have begun the essential work of keeping the American dream alive in our time. And that's why we're here today.