Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I have been here for some period of time, and I have heard a lot about caucuses. But I would like to see us do what the gentleman from Indiana says, although I disagree with him on his conclusion. I would like to see the formation of a responsibility caucus, a caucus that is honest with the American people, that doesn't pretend that this debt limit vote is a real vote. It is a real vote when you cut revenues by hundreds of billions of dollars and don't pay for it. And if you think that that does not up the debt and somehow pays for it, you haven't been around for the last 35 years watching. The responsibility caucus would say to the American people: If we bought it, we are going to pay for it. Whether it was Social Security, Medicare, an aircraft carrier, roads and bridges, whatever it was, we will pay for it. But one of the first things our Republican friends did was they negated pay-for, and they certainly wouldn't have it apply to tax cuts. Almost every responsible economist I have talked with says there is no way you can do this without effectively having default. Because if you prioritize debt, by definition, what you are saying is there are some debts we will not pay. As soon as you say that, you have defaulted. You may not default to a bond owner, but you have defaulted on an obligation of the most creditworthy nation on Earth, the United States of America. This is a game. It is an irresponsible game.…”