Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an issue that is vital for the future health and well-being of citizens in our country; that is, funding for medical research for the National Institutes of Health. Unfortunately, NIH funding, like many other important Federal priorities, is being impacted by the across-the-board spending cuts. As we all know, we want to see that budget go down, we want to see the debt reduced, but we have to do it in a sensible way, not with a hammer. Sequestration was never intended to be implemented and was supposed to bring Democrats and Republicans together to focus on smart solutions to reducing our debt. I am a supporter of the work of the debt commission. I believe there is a way we can bring down our debt in a significant way. But I do not think we meant to have sequestration implemented in the way it is being implemented and seeing the kind of cuts we are seeing. These cuts are creating headwinds against short-term economic growth, reducing access to important services, and threatening our Nation's leadership in areas such as medical research. Congress needs to take a broader, long-term view toward our debt and deficit. That is why I support the Senate budget which would replace the sequester with targeted spending cuts and additional revenue, reducing the deficit in a balanced way.…”