Political Quotes

“Well, we also talked about the economy. I think it is important to look at what the economy may do in the short run. I am convinced that it will be a real shot in the arm to an economy that is already performing well if we follow through on tax relief. I believe when people look back and say well, how did this economic trend continue for this long, frankly, I think one of the reasons is because the American people sent this new Congress here and they actually saw us reducing spending. Now, as the gentleman knows, I serve on the Committee on Appropriations, and just this week we marked up, we wrote the legislation, for the legislative appropriations bill. Now, there are 13 appropriations bills that have to be passed out to fund the discretionary portion of the Federal Government. It is an interesting trend what has happened since 1965, but in 1965, the Congress actually appropriated about two-thirds of the money, and a third of the money was entitlements, automatic spending. Well, that has just about reversed from 1965 to 1996, last year, where it is just the opposite. Entitlements and interest have two-thirds, and we only appropriate about one-third. Of that one-third that we appropriate, as you well know, about half of it is defense, and the other half is all the other nondefense discretionary bills put together.”