Political Quotes

“Well, I think that is important to note, and I would further note that every single Republican supported the McCaskill- Sessions amendment, but also 18 Democrats supported that. I believe that if we had the leadership just say yes instead of no, it would pass easily. It would be a healthy thing because it would send a message to the financial markets worldwide that we at least have some fiscal discipline, and it would be very unlikely that spending would go above this level if we had a two-thirds supermajority point of order to object to spending over that level. I would note that the amendment is supported by a number of bipartisan groups, including the Concord Coalition, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the National Taxpayers Union, the Heritage Foundation, former Congressional Budget Office and OMB Director Alice Rivlin--she served under President Clinton--and former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin. So this is a bipartisan piece of legislation that would bring us to a point that, I believe, we can say to the world that we are going to stand by the numbers the President gave us last year-- not Republican numbers but the President's numbers. Remember, the baseline budget increases are already there. So I think what we are really going to have to do--when we really get a budget and get some new leadership and get committed after this election, when we get a spanking by the American people--is to get budget numbers based on the 2008 spending levels.”