Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about the debt crisis facing this country and why I believe any deal to avert the fiscal cliff must address serious entitlement reform. We should not let the discussion around taxes, which is sort of dominating the airwaves here in Washington, distract us from the fact that Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Every independent expert who examines America's long-term structural fiscal dilemma comes to the same conclusion: Entitlement programs are the drivers of our national debt over the long term. Those who argue that we can dig our way out of a $16 trillion debt-- and counting, by the way--by raising taxes are ignoring reality. According to the Congressional Budget Office's most recent forecast, under the current tax rates, revenues over the next 10 years will average roughly 18 percent of GDP. In other words, Federal revenues will return to their historical average without raising taxes on anyone. I will repeat that because I think it is an important point. Our tax revenues will go back to an average of 18 percent over the next decade, which is the historical average, and that happens with existing tax policy in place, without raising taxes on anyone. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, under the current tax rates, revenues as a percentage of GDP will reach 18.6 percent by the year 2022--a decade from now. That is more than half a percentage point higher than the historical average.…”