Marshall Sanford: “I rise as a fiscal hawk. I rise as one who believes passionately in the issue of the debt and the deficit and government…”

“I rise as a fiscal hawk. I rise as one who believes passionately in the issue of the debt and the deficit and government spending, but one who believes that we can't pretend our way to fixing those problems and that the first part of fixing a problem lies in actually recognizing that you have a problem. Yet the reality is that, for the last 30 years or so, we have pretended that which was permanent was impermanent, which makes, overall, this notion of tax reform incredibly difficult. Ronald Reagan once observed that the closest thing to eternal life was a government program. It is true with regard to tax policy as well. So I just applaud the committee for the way that they have moved us to a place where we can move to a fair tax, a flat tax, changing the Tax Code to make the system fairer and flatter, more equitable for all and then, frankly, get rid of some of the provisions that don't belong in this Tax Code.”