Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I would just ask the distinguished Senator from Tennessee, the bill manager--the point he makes is exactly right, and I think most Americans would be surprised at this blue line and the fact that this is the money the appropriations process spends each year, but it is only about 30 percent of what the Federal Government spends--to his point. My recollection is that under current projections, that red line is growing at about 5.3 percent, it seems like, over the next 30 years or so, while the blue line remains roughly flat. But that is a product of a lot of things that need to be fixed, such as the fact that for every $1 put into Medicare, $3 is spent, and the fact that in the not too distant future, the Social Security trust fund is going to run out of money because people are getting older, more people are benefiting, and fewer people are paying into it. But the Senator is exactly right. We actually have been pretty disciplined in dealing with discretionary spending because of the Budget Control Act and sequestration. And many people have decried the fact that we actually renegotiated the sequester numbers, but one reason we did that is for national security purposes, that about half a trillion dollars of the money we spend is for national security.…”