Political Quotes

“What we have done tonight is literally make a down payment on balancing America's budget, a project that this side of the aisle has worked on very hard for all of this year. We have not met our commitments. We have not reached the accord that we had hoped to reach with the White House. But what we have done tonight in a bipartisan fashion, with the agreement of the President, is to agree to agree on those things where we do not have a difference of opinion, and we have done that. But our work is still cut out for us. Mr. Speaker, we must reach accord, we must compromise, we must find a way to reform our entitlements, to reform our Medicare system, to save it from the disastrous bankruptcy to which it is headed. We must transform our welfare system into one that offers not a handout, but a hand up. We must reform our Medicaid system, which is creating financial havoc for all of the States. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that we can do this. But it will take a spirit of compromise, the same bipartisan spirit that we evidenced tonight on the floor, Republicans and Democrats working, the Congress and the President, getting beyond their differences and becoming less entrenched and working in the spirit of compromise.”