Political Quotes

“I stand today to explain my reasons for voting against the debt limit increase we will be voting on in just about half an hour from now. This is a crisis that America faces. It is an ongoing crisis that will neither be created nor eliminated with today's vote. It is a crisis that has been building gradually over the course of years-- decades, in fact. It is a crisis that we certainly have known about ever since this Congress was sworn in in January of this year. This is a crisis that threatens potentially every Federal program, from defense to entitlements, because as we continue to borrow more money as a nation, adding to the already almost $15 trillion we have accumulated in national debt--roughly $50,000 for every man, woman, and child in America; roughly $150,000 for every taxpayer in America--as we continue to add to that enormous debt, we get closer and closer to the unknown but nonetheless existing point at which we will no longer be able to borrow, at least not at interest rates that will make this kind of borrowing sustainable. If interest rates were to go up even to their historically average levels, within just a few years we could be spending something closer to $1 trillion every single year. Just to pay the interest on our national debt, we could be paying more than we pay on Social Security in an entire year, more than Medicare and Medicaid combined, and more than national defense in an entire year. What happens when we get to that point?…”