Political Quotes

“I think probably a good lead-in to this debate is the last comment of the gentleman from New York that every American should get involved with what is going on in Congress, and I think compassion and understanding are very good guides to have, and I think reality needs to be in there somewhere. Let us talk about the budget real quickly, then we are going to get into something near and dear to everyone's heart in this country, and that is education. The Federal role in it, what we have tried to do at the national level in this Congress, I think to improve education, and to have an effective delivery system that recognizes the need to educate our children, to balance the budget, and what role money should play in all that, what role the Federal Government should play. Mr. Speaker, I find it very interesting that we can balance the budget and remove the deficit without affecting entitlements. That is very curious. I need to read the article by Mr. Novak. As I understand the dynamic that we are facing, two-thirds of the Federal budget that we deal with is on auto pilot. Sixteen percent of the Federal budget is interest payments. We paid more in 1997, will pay more in 1977 for interest on the national debt than the entire Defense Department, over $400 billion. Forty cents of every individual income tax dollar collected in this country goes to pay the interest element of the national debt.”