Political Quotes

“in the 21 years I have served in this body, I have never seen the level of partisanship that we are seeing on the balanced budget amendment. So maybe I should not have been shocked last Friday to see my colleague from Mississippi, Senator Lott, blatantly misrepresent my words of 1994. Clearly, his only purpose was to further divide the American public and to tarnish the reputation of Senators who have only sought to pass the best amendment possible. Senator Lott quoted me as saying, Mr. President, and I will quote it verbatim from the Record; this is what Senator Lott said I said: I hear so much about ``if 40-some-odd Governors can operate a balanced budget, why can't the Federal Government.'' * * * I operated under it. When I said ``I,'' Mr. President, as Governor: It worked. * * * I think implementation of this amendment will work. I think we can make it work. * * * I do not understand why it takes a brain surgeon to understand how you operate a budget the way the States do. * * * this is an opportunity to pass a balanced budget amendment that will work and will give us a financially sound future, not only for ourselves but for our children and our grandchildren. End of the quote that Senator Lott put in the Record. To that I say, Mr. President, read the full statement, and the fallacy will become clear.”