Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor deeply disappointed-- like many--over our failure to seize a unique opportunity to put America on a more fiscally sane path for the future. My No. 1 priority for this year--I have talked about it so many times, not only publicly but with colleagues in discussions for nearly a year--that No. 1 priority has been to advocate for a deficit reduction package that would be deemed credible by the financial markets and would put us on a path to fiscal stability. I think, given the situation that exists around the world today, nothing could have been more impactful in a positive way producing such a package. Financial experts agree--and they have now for years--that we are on the wrong path, that we are spending far too much in relationship to our anemic growth and GDP, and that we have staggered along for 3 years but continued to spend an extraordinary amount of money without seeing the economy recover. A number of plans have come forward. One year ago today, Simpson- Bowles produced one of those types of bold plans that could help get us back on this fiscal path to prosperity. As you know, Mr. Bowles was the Chief of Staff to our former President Bill Clinton. He and our former colleague Alan Simpson put together a package that--whether you agreed with all of it or not, certainly was something that could have put us on a more fiscally sound path. Yet those recommendations were rejected out of hand by the White House and others.…”