Political Quotes

“Mr. President, you will notice that the senior Senator from Vermont didn't talk about overall spending numbers. I would ask the President--I would ask anybody listening to these floor speeches today: Do you know how much the Federal Government spent last year? I have been asking that question of my colleagues. I have been asking that question of journalists here in Washington, DC, people who report on the dealings on the floor, and the vast majority cannot answer that question. So the question you all ought to be asking yourself is, Why can't you answer that question? It is not your fault. The reason nobody knows how much the Federal Government spent in total last year--virtually no one knows it--is that we never talk about it. We are the largest financial entity in the world, and we never talk about how much we spend in total. We talk about little bits and pieces. We talk about $6 billion here, $76 billion there--no doubt, necessary funding for top priorities. But we don't spend the time talking about how we are mortgaging our children's future. I have got a couple of charts that I would like to display. This first chart shows over 20 years of spending history, going back to the year 2002, when the Federal Government spent, in total, a little more than $2 trillion. If we would have just increased spending from that point by population growth and the rate of inflation, last year we would have spent a little under $3.8 trillion.…”