Political Quotes

“it would be easy to join the administration and friends on both sides of the aisle in their acclaim for their tax and budget agreements, unfortunately, I don't believe a ``yes'' vote is in the best long term interest of our country. To be sure, the proposals are better than when the process started. They are more fair and do less long term damage. In fact, there are some elements I strongly favor: the adjustment of capital gains on the sale of residential property, certain adjustment inheritance tax on farms and small business, spending more money for education and the repair of obvious flaws in the welfare legislation passed last year. These are all worthy goals that I support. In the final analysis there are still three basic problems. First, the tax changes are premature. We have not done any of the hard work on balancing the budget. The tax changes are scattered and political rather than focused and economically driven. Second, people most in need, students and working families, don't get enough and that which they do receive is not efficiently delivered. For example, students around America are clear that there are far better ways to provide assistance to make sure that young people get the college education they need. The tuition credit for tax deduction is an expensive indirect way to help them. Third and most fundamentally, the long term structural problems remain unaddressed.”