Political Quotes

“Mr. President, as my time in the Senate winds down, I find myself reflecting on many of the reasons I decided to return to the U.S. Senate. Without a doubt, one of the main factors for my return was the skyrocketing Federal debt and the harm Washington's excessive spending will have on future generations, including my children and 10 grandchildren. The day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10.6 trillion. We are now closing in on $20 trillion. Clearly, this cannot be sustainable without extraordinarily negative consequences for the future. That debt clock continues to tick along, and we continue to roll into more and more debt as we spend more and more on government programs than the revenue coming in to pay for them. So when I returned to the Senate in 2011, I sought out opportunities to address this ticking timebomb. I worked with my colleagues, both Republicans and across the aisle with Democrats, on efforts to restrain Federal spending and stabilize our Nation's finances. There were a number of efforts made. We are all familiar with Simpson-Bowles, a bipartisan effort that tragically did not succeed and was not accepted by the President. The Committee of 6--the Gang of 6, the so-called Gang of 6, three Democrats, three Republicans, seriously, fastidiously worked to try to put together a formula to put us on a path to fiscal responsibility. Then there was the supercommittee, and there were outside groups led by both Republicans and Democrats.…”