Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I take this time to explain to my colleagues why I will be opposing Steve Mnuchin's nomination for Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Mnuchin has an impressive record of accomplishment, and I admire his willingness to serve the public. But because of his advocacy for fiscally irresponsible and unfair fiscal policies, which I believe will add to the deficit of this country, I cannot support his nomination. Let me go back a while, if I may. I was in the Congress when we passed a budget that balanced the Federal budget, where we were actually reducing the Federal debt. It was controversial at the time because we did it by cutting spending first--and we did--but making sure we had adequate revenues in the Treasury to pay our bills because we recognized that we had a moral obligation to pay our bills, that we are wealthy enough of a nation that we don't have to ask our children and grandchildren to pay for our spending today. We took the steps to balance the Federal budget, and we did it by making some tough votes. I was proud to be in the Congress that took those tough votes that balanced the Federal budget. After we balanced the Federal budget, we saw unprecedented economic growth because we took the responsible actions. We should take a lesson from the past and recognize that there is no easy way to get our budget in better balance.…”