Political Quotes

“I thank the Chair. Mr. President, we know as Members of the Senate we are facing a deadline of August 2 for the extension of our debt ceiling. What is it? The debt ceiling is the authority Congress gives to the President to borrow money. You say to yourself: Well, please stop borrowing. We are already deep in debt. But what the President is borrowing money to pay for what we have already spent money on, commitments we have already made. Let me give you an example. Voting to continue the war in Afghanistan costs $10 billion a month. We do not have that money--not enough. We have to borrow 40 cents for every $1 we spend. So when Members of Congress say: Continue the war in Afghanistan at $10 billion a month, they are saying we are prepared to borrow $4 billion every single month to keep that promise. The President comes to us about once a year and says: I need more authority to continue to borrow money to pay for the things you have asked us to do. That is what it comes down to. Nobody likes to vote for the debt ceiling because it is so widely misunderstood. Most people basically say: I don't want to be associated with it. I have been guilty of that in my political career. But the fact is, most of us look over our shoulders at the final vote and say: We better pass this darn thing because if we don't, we will default on our debt. The full faith and credit of the United States of America is like our credit score. Guess what. We have the best in the world.…”