Political Quotes

“Madam President, Paul Ryan is a Congressman from Janesville, WI. I know it because it is right across the border from Illinois. I have relatives and friends who live in the area. I like Paul. I served with him on the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission. We spent a lot of time together. He is a very bright person, and he has been given a big assignment in the House of Representatives as chairman of the Budget Committee. He and I have different views of the world and of politics, but I respect him very much for his intelligence. He has laid out a budget plan for House Republicans that is very specific in the goals he has set for America. There are some aspects on which Paul and I agree. We agree on the fact that we are facing a deficit crisis. We cannot continue to borrow 40 cents for every dollar we spend. It is unsustainable. We borrow the money from countries such as China. China is a nation that is hard charging and competing with the United States, and they are one of our major creditors. That is a delicate position to be in, when a country that one is competing with for jobs and economic growth also happens to be its banker, its creditor. That is the case. We can't sustain that. As we watch our national debt increase, we understand we have to take serious measures to deal with it. This morning, in a bipartisan meeting of Senators with the President, we had the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad, describe our current situation.…”