"Yet we waste billions of dollars each year maintaining properties we no longer need."
"I fear that this hearing is focused on issues which distract from the obvious task at hand."
"We are trying to balance a known entity, the greatest economic downturn since the Depression caused by this lack of regulation."
"I do think we have a revenue problem, and the revenue problem at the local level was because of the economic downturn."
"States like Illinois need fiscal reform. We need to streamline, consolidate, and reinvent government not because it is unimportant, but because its mission is so important; it is where the wheels hit ..."
"We need to focus on policies that create jobs and promote economic growth."
"Our country is on an unsustainable fiscal path."
"For a country with the proud history and vast resources of the United States, this is unacceptable--it is unacceptable because government's mission matters."
"Step two must be fixing our broken budget process."
"By 2050, the government will be collecting that same 20 percent, but spending 45 percent--our deficits will only get worse from there."
"The CBO projects that by 2030, the federal government will be spending 30 percent of GDP but collecting only 20 percent in tax revenue."