Political Quotes

“I rise in strong support of the Smith- Stenholm balanced budget amendment. I also want to congratulate Bob Smith, he has done yeoman's work on this issue over the years, and when he leaves this House in a few months, his constituents will miss him but this institution will miss him even more. This House needs more men like him. Mr. Chairman, I have spoken out many times on this floor about out of control Federal spending. I have brought to this house the message that my constituents in east Tennessee keep giving me, and that is: stop putting all of this spending on our children and grandchildren and get Federal spending under control. Yet, year after year, our deficits keep growing and our enormous debt continues to mount. We hear speakers opposed to a balanced budget claiming that Social Security and Medicare will be cut if a balanced budget amendment is approved. This is totally ridiculous. In fact, we can reduce our enormous debt without touching either of these programs.”