Political Quotes

“let me respond just very briefly to my friend and colleague, Senator Kennedy, in his brief remarks. When he says this will result in the President having authority to impound, there is not one word in this amendment that gives the President any additional authority. The only thing we say to the President is, you have to submit a balanced budget when you submit a budget. So that simply is not accurate. Second, when he suggests that we are saying to States, we are going to give you all kinds of unfunded mandates, we do a lot of that right now, as you know, Madam President. I am a cosponsor of a bill that would say, when we give these mandates, we have to give the finances with them. But there is nothing to stop us from doing that right now. In terms of the amendment being toothless, we are being criticized on both sides: That it is toothless and that it is too tough. When we say to raise the debt you have to have a three-fifths majority, that is teeth. That is tough, and it has to be tough. It is not toothless. In terms of moving away from majority rule, James Madison warned about majoritarian abuses. I think we have clearly, for 25 years, spent more than we have taken in. That is an abuse of future generations, as well as ourselves, by the majority. The average American income, family income, today is $35,000.…”