Political Quotes

“I rise in opposition to the motion to table the motion to proceed to H.R. 2560, the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011. At this critical juncture in our Nation's history, the Federal Government's record of fiscal recklessness proves we must work to guarantee fiscal responsibility not just for our time, but for all time. In that light, I believe it deserves debate and an open process that would allow for changes and improvements so we can ultimately pass a measure ensuring we are never again confronted with a vote to raise our Nation's debt ceiling. And I am therefore deeply disappointed and troubled that the majority in the Senate is not permitting us to proceed to any further discussion or votes on this bill. To achieve that goal, an indispensible element of the cut, cap, and balance bill is the balanced budget amendment--and I have been a champion of balanced budget amendments throughout my tenure. And in fact, this legislation before us represents the one and only opportunity we will likely have as we lead up to the debt ceiling deadline to consider and pass just such an amendment. Given our historic $14.3 trillion national debt, the record $1.6 trillion deficit for the current fiscal year, and the unrestrained and skyrocketing growth of government programs and services, we have little choice but to seriously and thoroughly debate measures to bring certainty and solutions to our broken budget process.…”