Political Quotes

“But the Senator knows, as an expert on the Constitution, that the Congress of the United States controls the purse strings. The President does not spend any money without the approval of Congress. So I think, to be fair about it, it would be fair to say that Congress is ultimately responsible, not the President, for increasing the debt. The President's budget is purely advisory. We do not have to agree to it. We can increase it, decrease it, ignore it, kill it, do whatever we want to do with it. But the Congress appropriates the money. The Congress authorizes the spending. And it is the spending that drove the debt up over that period of years. And I would accept that there is certainly enough blame to go around between the two parties. But my point is, I think it is unfair to say that Ronald Reagan alone was responsible for the debt that we have today.”