Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. McMorris Rodgers), a member of the Republican leadership. Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. James Madison said that the trickiest question the Constitutional Convention confronted was how to oblige a government to control itself. History records not a single nation that spent, borrowed, and taxed its way to prosperity, but it offers us many, many examples of nations that spent, borrowed, and taxed their way to economic ruin and bankruptcy. And history is screaming to us a warning that nations that bankrupt themselves aren't around very long because before you can provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, you have to be able to pay for it. {time} 1730 Today I rise in strong support of the balanced budget amendment. This past weekend, I re-read the 1995 House Judiciary Committee report that accompanied the resolution that passed at that time. Incredibly, the same justifications put forward against the balanced budget amendment in 1995 are the same ones that we hear today. First, the report highlights a $4.7 trillion debt in 1995 and discusses the implications of a $200 billion interest payment. I only wish those were the debt levels that we are responding to today. What this comparison means is that we haven't corrected the government's spending problem on our own.…”