Political Quotes

“First let me say that I recognize the need for the additional defense spending that is in this bill and I support that, and this amendment makes no attempt to offset that necessary increase in defense spending. My concern, however, is the $1.2 billion in nondefense, nonveteran, new spending in the supplemental spending bill. I would point out that last year the Congress and the previous administration increased Federal discretionary spending by more than 8 percent. If we pass this bill in its current form without fully offsetting even the nondefense new spending portion, with sometimes spending reductions elsewhere, then we will have increased spending by approximately 10 percent. In doing so, we will be growing government faster than virtually any other segment of our society. We will be increasing government spending three to four times the rate of inflation. We will be spending away the surplus and that means less money available for tax relief, less money available for debt reduction, a greater chance that soon, perhaps as soon as 2003, we may be dipping back into the Medicare and Social Security funds to pay for all of this spending. To avoid this, we have to draw a line on spending.”