Political Quotes

“Mr. President, tomorrow we are going to vote on the question of whether we establish a bipartisan debt commission, a commission empowered to come up with a plan, a plan if 14 of the 18 Members would agree, would come to the Senate for a vote. This story ran recently in Newsweek. This was actually the cover of Newsweek: How Great Powers Fall; Steep Debt, Slow Growth, and High Spending Kill Empires--And America Could Be Next. Inside, the story reported: This is how empires decline. It begins with a debt explosion. It ends with an inexorable reduction in the resources available for the Army, Navy and Air Force. . . . If the United States doesn't come up soon with a credible plan to restore the federal budget to balance over the next five to 10 years, the danger is very real that a debt crisis could lead to a major weakening of American power. It is not hard to see how that could happen. Since 2000, the debt has exploded. In the previous administration the debt doubled. It has increased again with the economic downturn, and we are now on a course to have a gross debt that will be 114 percent of the gross domestic product of the United States. That is the short term. We can handle a debt of 114 percent of the gross domestic product. We have done it before. We did it after World War II. Japan has a debt right now of 189 percent of their gross domestic product.…”