Marshall Sanford: “I admire the earnestness of my colleagues who, in good faith, are pressing forward in terms of trying to protect a whole…”

“I admire the earnestness of my colleagues who, in good faith, are pressing forward in terms of trying to protect a whole host of programs that I think we all recognize are of great importance to the American people. Churchill once observed that the beauty of the American political system was that it always did the right thing--after it had exhausted every other possible remedy. My fear in this is, if we wait late in the game, and this is exactly what the Budget Director was talking about this morning, if we wait, the consequences to waiting, in numerical terms, become horrific. We are dealing with a math trap that compounds with time. Einstein, in fact, was once asked what is the most powerful force in the universe, and his reply was compound interest. The numbers become, I think, absolutely compelling. So I would agree with my colleagues that across-the-board cuts are absolutely not the best way to go. When I was involved in State politics, I worked earnestly against across-the-board cuts. It is only out of desperation that I offer a proposal that entails across-the- board cuts because, again, if we wait, what the Budget Director this morning says was that there will be real consequences.…”