Political Quotes

“That is surely not my impression. I appreciate the comments from the assistant majority leader from Illinois. I listen to the words, as I have read, that Ronald Reagan said. The debt limit was raised 18 times in the 8 years of the Reagan administration, and each time it was, there were people who didn't like doing it. Nobody likes to vote for that. But there was never this: let's go up to the edge and take a chance. President Reagan always preached--as Presidents have since in both parties--that this is not a risk we can take, and I know this. I hear from Social Security beneficiaries, I hear from veterans, I hear from small businesspeople, and I hear from contractors around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base that they don't think we should take this risk, that they are--some use the word ``terrified'' getting this close to default, and most can't really believe we are this close. I can't, either. The Senator from Illinois and I have talked about this many times over the last few months, that we figured there would not be these lines in the sand and this belief that it doesn't matter if we default and we would get to a solution. But we haven't been able to. But no responsible people in elected office that I can think of in the last 30 or 40 years have wanted to go this close to default and play chicken and just think, well, maybe it won't hurt us much. We know what happens with interest rates.…”