Political Quotes

“It is good to see my good friend on the floor. I, unfortunately, can't support his amendment, but I appreciate his work here in the Congress. In the past, unlike those rhetorically who offer notions of support for Simpson-Bowles, I actually supported it and voted for it. I am the only Member of the House that has offered a bill to get rid of the income tax and pay our debts. I wanted to set up a consumption tax, which 150 other countries in the world use. We have got a consumption-based economy. It might be a good notion to find our revenues where the action is. I don't take a backseat to anyone when it comes to fiscal responsibility, but unless we have a global budget deal, it is going to be impossible for us to manage the accounts of what you agree are very important Federal agencies that have very important responsibilities. We are running the most important, the most powerful country in the world. We can't do it on the cheap and be number one. China builds 100 science-only universities in 5 years. It would take us 20 years to build one. We don't have the same kind of decisionmaking process, obviously, and it takes us a while to formulate our decision package; but even when we get there, we have this debate about whether or not we are going to stand up and be the leading country in the world, whether in space exploration or in any of the areas of scientific enterprise in which we have always had the absolute lead. Now we have only a relative lead.…”