Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we had a very successful week legislatively. I extend my appreciation to Senators on both sides of the aisle, especially my friends on the Republican side. There were no 30 hours used. It worked out extremely well. There was ample time for debate, and there were issues that were of concern to both parties. Of course, the issues are important to the country. Without belaboring the issues on which we voted, I wish to spend just a minute on two issues--first, the pay-go rules we passed. The Presiding Officer has been a great asset to the Senate. He has worked with the chairman of the Budget Committee, Senator Conrad, and others to focus on finances of our country. The Presiding Officer was a very successful Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia and noted for what he did with budgetary matters in Virginia. Pay-go rules are so important. We have rules now, like people have in their individual homes. We are working to do what people who work for a living do, and that is spend money we have. It is not as if we are inventing something new. During the Clinton years, we had pay-go rules. As a result of that, we were able to spend less money than we were taking in. For the first time in decades, in the last 3 years of the Clinton administration, we paid down the national debt by hundreds of billions of dollars. So I hope, looking into the future, we can continue doing that; that is, do it again. It is so important.…”