Political Quotes

“I share the commitment of many here today to achieve a balanced budget, but it is not just enough to balance the budget for a nanosecond. It is a question of whether or not we have a plan that will balance the budget and keep it balanced. Over the last few weeks, and certainly I know that will be true throughout the rest of today, there is a lot of backslapping. There is a debate about who is the greatest statesman for putting this agreement together. A lot of popping of champagne corks; I believe I am going to hold my champagne until the budget is actually in balance, because there is nothing very new about people promising to balance the budget. And as my colleague from Texas just pointed out, one of the problems that we have here today with what has essentially been a budget agreement where until the last few days we did not have any of the blanks filled in and it was based on the theme song from the Caribbean, do not worry, be happy, about this budget, I am happy about having a balanced budget agreement. But I am a little worried about whether the promise of that balanced budget is ever going to be achieved. The best way to achieve it is not in listening to one person extol the great virtues of another but in having a meaningful enforcement mechanism.”