Political Quotes

“Mr. President, the Senator from Alabama took issue with the use of an emergency designation in the substitute before us. Let me take a moment to explain why that use of the emergency designation is entirely appropriate. First, the concluding section of the amendment designates two items as emergency items. Those items are unemployment insurance and additional payments to States under Medicaid. Both of these items are directly related to the economic emergency that we find ourselves in; namely, the great recession. From the beginning of emergency designations, with the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, Congress has recognized periods of recession as true emergencies, and that makes good economic sense as well. It makes good sense to allow automatic stabilizers such as unemployment insurance and Medicaid to spend more when the economy is in rough shape. Programs such as unemployment insurance and Medicaid help to cushion the blow for those hurt by bad economic times. Programs such as unemployment insurance and Medicaid help to increase economic demand, and that helps to keep the recession shorter than it otherwise would be. That is why the old Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law provided for exceptions to budget discipline in periods of recession. It is why the Budget Enforcement Act carried on that policy by allowing exceptions for budget emergencies, and budget resolutions have carried that policy further to the current day.…”