Political Quotes

“let me first thank our assistant Democratic majority leader for his incredible work on the Bowles- Simpson Commission. Senator Durbin was a real voice of reason and brought together diverse views. We need that this week. And then with the Gang of 6, with our colleagues in the Senate on both sides of the aisle, he was able to bring us together in achieving two goals--and that is what we need to do--one is we need to raise the debt limit and, secondly, we need a credible plan to deal with the deficit. I think Senator Durbin has added greatly to accomplishing those goals, reaching across party lines, and understanding that it cannot be what the Democrats want or what the Republicans want but we have to work together. But I must say that at this moment, we are 7 days away from the August 2 date. So we have two goals. Goal No. 1 is to raise the debt limit so that we don't default on America's obligations. Raising the debt limit needs to be our goal No. 1. We have already incurred this debt. This is not about increasing America's spending; this is for spending that has already occurred, and now we have to pay the bills. The cost of default is unimaginable to the American people. We will pay more as taxpayers because the cost of government borrowing will go up. We know that. That is not speculation; we know that.…”