Political Quotes

“I find it quite extraordinary when I hear colleagues talking about objecting to spending Federal dollars right now--Federal dollars that would add to the deficit--given where we have come from in the last 8 years. I remember back when I was in the House of Representatives, serving with the distinguished Presiding Officer, when in 1997 we took some very tough votes and did a lot of hard work under President Clinton. Actually, we balanced the budget for the first time in 30 years. That put us on a course to eliminate the deficit, to strengthen the country, to create the right kinds of priorities for the American people. As a result of that action, in 2001, when I came into the Senate as a new member of the Budget Committee, we were debating what to do with the biggest surplus in American history, $5.7 trillion. How should we address the largest surplus we had seen in the Federal budget. At the time, the Democrats on the committee proposed that we divide that surplus into three parts: one, for tax cuts geared to the middle class; two, for investments to create jobs, invest in education, and future opportunities; and three, to help strengthen Social Security. That was rejected.…”