Political Quotes

“I will just say, we have responsibilities to the budget, to the Treasury. I will promise one thing: If we go back home and talk to duck hunters, as I do, and hunters on a regular basis, they think we are spending money like crazy. They think we do not adhere to any agreements. So I do not think the average duck hunter would be concerned if we slowed down a little bit and sent this bill back to committee and had it paid for so we did not violate the budget. In fact, I think most of the people I know would be very supportive of us doing that. This proposal is a tax plan, pure and simple. The CBO and the Office of Management and Budget--President Obama's Office of Management and Budget--say the duck stamp fee is a tax. It is a tax, and Congress has always set the amount of it. This bill--I do not like this--we fixed this in committee, but Senator Reid has brought up a bill without those fixes. The committee bill would have said Congress sets the amount of the tax on the American people, not some unelected Secretary of the Interior. Why should he have the unilateral ability to raise taxes on Americans? It has never been done before. It should never be done. It violates good, sound principles of government in America and actually I think it would violate the Constitution to do that. It is certified by OMB and CBO as a tax. Also, I hear it said it would actually reduce the deficit.…”