Political Quotes

“I was surprised to hear the gentleman from New York [Mr. Solomon] say that there will be no more deficit spending with the Republicans in control. I had understood the Republican budget to accept the reality of the fact that there will be deficit spending for the next 6 years. The 7-year budget means that the deficit ends in the seventh year, but for the first 6 years of the Republican budget there is a deficit. So, to say that there will be no more deficit spending is to assume that we will go into a coma for 6 years and then come out in the seventh. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from New York did have a tougher budget. It is true. It was a very tough budget. That is why I believe a majority of the Republicans voted against it. But the key here is procedural and not substantive. I gather this is the first time the House has been asked, not at the end of the session when we are trying to clean things up, but at the very outset of a session to change the rules substantially to diminish the chance to discuss publicly major legislation. Mr. Speaker, this is doing away with the two-thirds vote. For a group that came in boasting about how open and democratic they were going to be, this is an extraordinary diminution of our ability as a legislative body to discuss things.”