Political Quotes

“I want to compliment the Senator from West Virginia, the President pro tempore, for his wide-ranging accounting of the history of the power of the purse. The encyclopedic memory of the Senator from West Virginia is truly a marvel. Senators and others listening, I am sure were aware that his speech dealing with history, including the reign of the British monarchs, was without notes, entirely from memory, including the spelling and the dates that they held office. I wish to compliment the Senator from West Virginia, as well, for his stalwart defense of the congressional power of the purse. As Senator Byrd has explained, the English-speaking world has vested power over taxing and spending primarily with the legislature since before the English civil war of the mid-1600's. This decision to lodge fiscal powers in the Government unit with ties close to the taxpayer resulted, in significant part, from the practical expedient that those legislators could most ably assess the ability of taxpayers to contribute. Shifting this power away from Congress would result in less representative democracy.”