Political Quotes

“earlier this afternoon, I joined 40 Republicans to oppose the nomination of Alice Rivlin to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. I wanted to take a moment now to explain my vote. Let me emphasize that my vote should not reflect personally on Dr. Rivlin. Instead, it was exclusively based upon the manner in which the Clinton administration has not been forthcoming regarding its budget submission for fiscal year 1997. As has been made clear in previous debates, in order to reach balance by the year 2002, the Clinton budget would require dramatic discretionary spending cuts in 2001 and 2002. These cuts would affect programs across the Government, including veterans' health care, medical research, and WIC. Subsequent to the submission of this budget, several Cabinet Secretaries testified before Congress that the spending cuts required under the President's budget were subject to renegotiation on a yearly basis and should not be taken literally. In other words, the President's own appointees, who helped put his budget together, were claiming that the policies necessitated by that budget were not going to be pursued. As Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Dr. Rivlin has been requested to account for the conflict between the President's budget and the testimony of his Cabinet Secretaries. As of this afternoon, however, Dr. Rivlin has been unable to provide what would be termed, in my opinion, as a suitable explanation.”