Political Quotes

“I am concerned that at a time when the House is unable to fund the President's request for 100,000 new police officers in the crime bill, that Congress is seeking an increase of $100 million in spending. This week we voted on a military construction bill that was $600 million lower than last year in real dollars. We voted last night on a foreign operations bill that was more than $380 million below the President's request. We have also been considering on the floor this week a defense authorization bill that will slash many important defense programs. Furthermore, although Congress has instituted automatic cost-of-living adjustment increases for its Members, COLA's for Federal retirees are being delayed, as are COLA's for veterans and military retirees. How can we ask people who have laid their lives on the line for our country to wait for their COLA's when politicians don't have to? Madam Chairman, with all due respect to this institution, I cannot express enough my firmly held conviction that we must hold the legislative branch to the same fiscal restraint and budgetary standards that we are requiring the American people and the rest of the Federal Government to live under. This is the only way that we can be truly honest in our effort to control Federal spending and to reduce the budget deficit.”