Political Quotes

“Madam President, we are waiting for a number of Senators who have sought time. They will be coming to the floor and we will hear from them momentarily. Let me say Senator Paul is sincere. One place I agree with him is that the country has to face up to our deficit and debt situation. As I indicated earlier, I was part of the Simpson-Bowles commission. We agreed to, and voted on, significant reforms, spending cuts, but we also used some additional revenue to have a balanced plan. I believe that has to be the test for any of the proposals that are made here. As I see the proposals coming from our Republican colleague, they flunk that test because they are not balanced. There is nothing on the revenue side. In fact, in all of their plans, there are deep additional tax cuts aimed at the wealthiest among us. None of the Republican plans have less than a $150,000 tax cut, on average, for people with earnings of over $1 million a year. Senator Paul's plan is truly radical. He didn't mention a lot of the elements, but his plan includes massive tax cuts for the wealthiest among us. He scraps the entire tax system and goes to a 17-percent flat tax. That is a massive tax cut for those of us who have higher income-- massive tax cut. I can tell you it would be a massive tax cut for my family. He also cuts discretionary spending, education, and energy, by huge amounts. I will go into that in a bit. He cuts health care by almost $4 trillion.…”