Political Quotes

“Good. Lots of time. I am just getting started. Madam President, as we look at these things and try to make these decisions, it really is about having a government that sets priorities, and I can't emphasize enough how different it is from your local government to Washington. Every mayor in the United States--I may not agree with their policies, but virtually every mayor--particularly smalltown America is this way--spends what comes in. Now, some of the bigger cities actually have a borrowing capacity and have gotten in trouble with loans, but most cities in America spend what comes in. So when you go to the city council meetings, what do cities do? They do stuff you kind of want. They pave the roads, fix the roads, fix the stoplights, make sure the ditches are dug, and make sure the sewage works. We all kind of have agreed to have a certain amount of government, particularly at the local level. So, when you go to a city council meeting, there will be a budget. I know that is extraordinary. We don't do that up here. We spend $6 trillion, and we don't have a budget. We don't pass a budget. We haven't had a budget for the last 3 or 4 years. No budget. Six trillion dollars and no budget. That is insane. Everybody up here who is for that should be fired. I produce a budget every year on my own, one Senator, not on the Appropriations Committees. I don't often win. Actually, I have never won my budget, but my budget is fairly dramatic according to Washington's standards.…”