Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it has been my honor to serve on President Obama's deficit commission, a commission chaired by former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former U.S. Senator from Wyoming Alan Simpson. For 10 months, we met and considered all of the possibilities for us to move toward a more stable fiscal picture in America. Our goal was simple: to reduce Federal spending, reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years. It took us 10 months to come up with a proposal, and yesterday 11 out of the 18 members of the commission voted in favor, as I did. I had my reservations about some of their provisions, but I did not quarrel with the goal. Unless we are serious about budget deficit reduction, America's economy will be in peril. Borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar we spend and borrowing it from countries such as China, which, as a result, have leverage on the U.S. economy, is something we should not ever accept as normal. It is abnormal and dangerous. I left that commission hearing yesterday, voting to cut $4 trillion over 10 years, to come to the floor of the Senate, where the Republican side of the aisle, the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, has a proposal for tax cuts over the next 10 years of $4 trillion. What a coincidence.…”