Political Quotes

“Madam President, this weekend I was in eastern Oregon holding townhalls. At each gathering, citizens asked me: How important is August 2? Are the Members of the Senate going to be able to come together and make sure our Nation doesn't default? I rise today to address that question. Indeed, it would be historic, the first time in the history of the United States that we will have refused to pay our bills. Some of my colleagues have called into question the significance of such an event. One of my colleagues said: I am a little bit cynical about the scare mongering and putting America's back up against this August 2 deadline just to get an increase in the American credit card. I heard some of my colleagues talk about the situation in which they view paying the interest on Treasury bills as equivalent to a family holding a mortgage; and the fact that the United States has other bills, such as checks to write to our veterans and our senior citizens, as more equivalent to utility bills; and that somehow, as long as you keep paying on your mortgage, you can quit making your payments on your utilities; that is, other payments for debts and obligations we have already incurred. I want to clarify that this is a deeply flawed analysis because we don't have our national debt locked in for 30 years in a situation where we don't have to worry about changes in interest on it as long as we keep making our payments. Indeed, every week there is an auction of Treasury bonds.…”