Political Quotes

“I wish I were coming to the floor just full of excitement because we had a vote today on the balanced budget amendment. I came to Congress nearly 7 years ago believing we needed a balanced budget amendment, knowing that Thomas Jefferson regretted not having one, that Ronald Reagan wished there had been one. But since I have been in this body, it has become abundantly clear that this body is more likely to have the will to raise taxes than it is to cut spending. I came here not believing that that was the case. But after we added over 80 fantastic freshmen coming up here with the right motivation, wanting to get our fiscal House in order, knowing that we went from 2006, when we were last in the majority before this year, when we spent $160 billion or so over what we took in, and then, because we didn't have our fiscal house in order as the Republican majority, it's my belief that's the reason, the biggest reason, actually, that the public turned over the reins to our Democratic friends. We haven't done a good job of avoiding overspending. But also in 2006, November, when we lost the majority, I would never have believed that we would go from a time when we were spending $160 billion more than we were bringing into the Treasury in just a few short years to spending a trillion dollars more than we were bringing into the Treasury. That was just unfathomable.…”