Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. First of all, I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for making my amendment in order and granting me the opportunity to address this. I rise today to offer what I think is a very commonsense amendment to the underlying bill. There's some of this debate that there's very little to debate about. Our national debt is nearly $15 trillion. We're borrowing about 30 cents on every dollar. This represents, in my opinion, one of the biggest threats to our economic future, and I believe it needs to be a top priority. But I also believe the first step in addressing our national debt is getting honest about how we calculate it and the impact of it. That means we have to take the right factors into account, and that includes the impact that higher deficits will have on our economy. As you know, the main problem with deficits is they push up interest rates. Eventually, it will happen. Higher interest rates hurt the economy by making it more expensive to buy a home or a car. They make it harder for my constituents to afford college for their children, and they make it more difficult for local businesses to get credit they need to grow. My amendment would simply ensure that the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation expressly include interest rates in the list of economic factors they consider in their studies.…”