Political Quotes

“I came to the floor a few minutes ago when Senator Gregg from New Hampshire was here. Senator Gregg is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. I listened carefully as he talked about a plan to reform budgeting in America. The first thing I can recall was the phrase often used by a friend of mine who serves in the House of Representatives, Congressman Dave Obey of Wisconsin, who frequently chides Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle for ``posing for holy pictures.'' I thought to myself, how interesting it is to hear the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee coming to the floor preaching for dramatic reform when it comes to budgeting. If one were not aware of the history of budgeting under this administration and under Republican leadership in Congress, you might be able to sell this story. But it is hard to sell when you look at facts. When President Bush took office, he inherited a surplus. It was one of the first surpluses in the Federal budget in decades. It was the result of President Clinton increasing taxes and cutting spending, determined to reduce the deficit. We reached the point where we had surpluses that were being generated so they could pay down the debt to the Social Security trust fund, give it longer life, make certain that we were moving toward a fiscally sound future. President Bush inherited a Federal budget surplus. He also inherited a national debt of $5.3 trillion.…”