Susan Collins: “When the Republicans became the majority in 1995, we had 40 years of the Democrats control of this body. For 40 years…”

“When the Republicans became the majority in 1995, we had 40 years of the Democrats control of this body. For 40 years, they ran up the debt on this country. For 40 years, they had budgets as far as the eye could see that were going to run deficits and increase the debt on our children and grandchildren. When we came in, we told the American people that we would balance the budget, that we would give some tax relief, and we would start paying down on the debt. We were told by this side of the aisle and Washington pundits and Washington media that that is impossible, we cannot balance the budget and cut taxes and pay down on the debt. I am very proud to stand before my colleagues and tell my colleagues that the budget is balanced, and it has been for a couple of years, that we stopped the raid on Social Security that was going on for 40 years. They were taking the Social Security surplus and spending it on government programs. We did that last year. And we will do it again this year.”