Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman for yielding, and I especially thank him for his great leadership on this very important issue. I rise in favor of this legislation. The Federal Government is currently borrowing close to 40 cents of every dollar that it spends. Our $15 trillion national debt has grown to be as large as our entire economy. One of the most important actions that Congress can take to restore fiscal sanity to Washington for generations to come is to adopt a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. I've cosponsored a version of a balanced budget amendment every session since first being elected to Congress, including the measure that we are debating here today. This proposal would impose a similar requirement for annually adopting a balanced budget, as currently exists in 49 States, recognizing a commonsense exception for defense under limited circumstances. The idea of a balanced budget amendment is not new. One of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, was a strong proponent of this idea. More recently, in 1995, as has been discussed, following passage by the House of Representatives, the United States Senate came within one vote of sending this version of the balanced budget amendment to the States for ratification. Since then, our total national debt has nearly tripled.…”