Political Quotes

“Madam President, I rise to speak on the topic that has been discussed over the last hour. I thank my colleagues for focusing on this issue. Yesterday's and tonight's votes are tough votes for me. I think they are tough votes for each of us. We have a bipartisan compromise that has come forth. There are things in this bill that trouble each of us for different reasons. But I think all of us understand our deficit issue is the biggest threat to our country's economic security and in many ways to our sovereignty. Over this summer I had 46 deficit presentations around the State of Tennessee. I think what people walked away with from these meetings-- and they were large meetings--was the severity of this issue. Most Americans have not focused on the severity of our debt issue. Most Americans think it is going to affect a neighbor, might affect another generation. I think a lot of Americans think if we would do away with things such as earmarks--and I don't earmark--we would solve our problems. That is what I hoped to accomplish this summer in Tennessee, was to make people aware of how big this issue is and that the steps we are going to have to take are Draconian. I applaud those who have been involved in the process that has just taken place at the deficit reduction commission. I am hopeful that sometime very soon, in the next few months, we will have the opportunity to vote on something similar in nature that deals with real spending constraints.…”