Political Quotes

On the recordAugust 4, 2010
Mr. President, I am here to talk about the nominee, Ms. Kagan, for the Supreme Court, but I thought I would put it in the context of how I view what we are doing. As a physician, a father, and a grandfather taking a look at where we are as a nation, it is very worrisome to me. The 62 years I have lived have been fraught with great opportunity, great challenges, but never with a fear that what we have in this country may not last. I have to admit to my colleagues that I have that fear now. And it is not an unfounded fear. You see, this year we will borrow almost $1.6 trillion from our grandchildren. We will borrow in excess of $4 billion a day-- money we don't have. At this moment, we owe $13.35 trillion. No question, we are the biggest economy in the world, being fast caught by other large economies. The uniqueness of the American experiment could have been predicted by those who studied republics because freedom and liberty were the basis for such an explosion in growth and wealth and freedom and standard of living. The poor in our country live far in excess of half of the world's populations because of the great republic we are. I believe we have a short period of time to right the ship for our country. We have large disagreements in this body on how we do that, and others' ideas have as much value as mine. But it is not debatable the kind of trouble we are in as a nation. It is indisputable.…
Said by
Tom Coburn
Republican · Oklahoma

Share & report

More from Tom Coburn

Jun 15, 2015

We have something we call 'maintenance of effort' that we use in other programs, educational programs, when there is Federal money, we say to States, 'You have to maintain effort.'

congress.gov
Jul 13, 2015

Millions of Americans are suffering and dying from untreatable diseases or the lack of better treatment options.

congress.gov
Apr 26, 2016

America does not trust you anymore--that is the truth--because they do not see the actions coming out of Congress that should be coming out.

congress.gov
Apr 26, 2016

So, what you are really doing is fighting a dark force that does not want the American people to know what is going on up here.

congress.gov

Other voices in this conversation