Political Quotes

“Mr. President, yesterday afternoon I spoke in this Chamber, and I quoted former Comptroller General David Walker saying that we as a country face ``large, known and growing structural deficits that could swamp our ship of state.'' To get our ship of state in trim, we need to make adjustments; we need to reduce the deficit and the debt. I also discussed that when Republicans demand that all ``revenue raisers'' be taken off the table in our discussions about how we reduce that deficit and that debt, as the Republican leader has done just this week, what they are really defending is tax subsidies for profitable big oil companies; what they are really defending is corporations that dodge their U.S. taxes by setting up phony business locations in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere; what they are really defending is ultra- high-income individuals--the highest 400 income earners in the country--paying a lower actual tax rate than ordinary working Americans, in some years lower than truckdrivers, in some years as low as a hospital orderly. Just last month, Republicans filibustered a measure that would have ended $21 billion in completely unnecessary subsidies for the largest oil companies. We know those oil companies are enjoying record multibillion-dollar profits, the highest, in some cases, profits any corporation has ever made, and they do not need continued support from the American taxpayer--they just do not, not when these other cuts are being thought of.…”