Political Quotes

“A lot of Americans know talk is cheap with a lot of politicians. I think it is good that we review what has actually happened in the last couple of years. Two years ago, nobody on the other side of the aisle was talking about the need for a balanced budget. They were saying, it was reasonable to borrow and spend for investment. Mr. Speaker, let me review for the American people what happened about a year and half ago. Republicans took the majority. They cut $9 billion out of the 1995 budget. Then in 1996 we had a budget that was $23 billion less than the 1995 budget. This budget deficit has come down for these last 2 years largely because of tough decisions on spending cuts. The deficit was reduced in 1993 and 1994 because of a huge tax increase. Let us review for the American people what is happening in terms of the real reduction in the size of the Federal Government. I think one way to measure that is as a percentage of GDP. If we look at what happened in 1995, we had about 22 percent of GDP. In 1996 we had about 21 percent of GDP. This resolution that came out of conference committee has 20.4 percent of GDP. That is the lowest percent of GDP since 1974. This is a budget that moves us aggressively in the right direction.”