Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I could roll the tape of what I just said last time to respond because these are indiscriminate cuts, but that is not particularly helpful. If we are here to make a point, let's make this point. If this is all about reducing the debt, let's not kid ourselves that we are going to accomplish this beating the hell out of nondefense discretionary. Let's go back to the Simpson-Bowles discussion and the debt commission that took place back then. The conclusions they came up with on a bipartisan basis was that anything to be serious had to be big, had to be balanced, and had to be bipartisan. But balanced meant cutting across all the lines. Now, what we have learned, if you spend any time in this House, is that there are sacred cows. If we are talking to our left and our right, what I would say to my friends on the right is that you got your sacred cows, too. Right now they are mooing everywhere because you are not touching them, and therefore, you are not serious about dealing with the debt. If you are, let's remember Simpson-Bowles did come over here one time under the late Mr. LaTourette and our friend, Mr. Cooper. Under Cooper- LaTourette, which was some feigned attempt to do this on a big, balanced, bipartisan basis with no sacred cows, it got 36 votes. If we are serious about this, let's talk about the commission and let's talk about all things.…”