Political Quotes

“we came back to Washington to be sworn in and begin a new Congress, and the President traveled to my State of Illinois, to Chicago, to announce his proposal for an economic stimulus. We need it; we need it desperately. For the last 2 years, we have languished. Our economy has gone from bad to worst. The President inherited a budget surplus, at least on paper, that gave us some opportunities to pay down the debt of the Nation. Instead of borrowing money from the economy to finance our Government, we were actually not borrowing at the same rate. I am careful with my rhetoric because I am being followed by Senator Hollings who is the guru and past master when it comes to the questions of deficits and surplus. He will quickly disabuse me of my notions if I am wrong. He will concede, as I hope I would as well, that our budget situation today is worse than it was when President Bush took office in terms of the deficits we are generating. That deficit situation reflects three situations, some of which we control and some we do not.”