Political Quotes

“I thank the Senator for his courtesy. Mr. President, the place we agree is we have a long-term problem for this country that we must address. I attempted to lay before the Budget Committee, and did lay before the Budget Committee, the Bowles-Simpson plan. It is the one plan that has had bipartisan support. I hope before the year is over that we can go back to it because I think it holds the greatest potential. A key difference Senator Sessions and I have is whether we have a budget for this year and next. I believe it is clear we do. The Budget Control Act that passed last year says that the allocations and spending levels set ``shall apply in the Senate in the same manner as for a concurrent resolution on the budget.'' That is for both 2012 and 2013. I believe our Republican friends want to focus on that because they do not want to focus on the specifics of their budget plans. Recall, the last time they were in charge, when they controlled everything--the House and the Senate and the White House--the Republican policies led us to the brink of financial collapse. The proposals they are advancing today are a return to those failed policies. Remember what happened when they were in charge. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month and the economy was shrinking at a rate of almost 9 percent a year. That is why they do not want to focus on the substance of their plans. Let's focus on the substance for a moment. Every Republican budget ends Medicare as we know it.…”