Political Quotes

“I appreciate Senator Kyl's comments, and I share them. We are going to miss the most knowledgeable fiscal tax expert in the Senate, and his long career includes time on the Finance Committee. I thank Senator Kyl. I want to express some reservations about the negotiations that have been going on, as I understand it from reading the paper, involving the fiscal cliff. Over the last 2 years, Congress and the President have held an endless series of negotiations. There have been Gangs of 6 and 8, a supercommittee of 12, talks at the Blair House and the White House. But the only thing these secret talks have produced is a government that skips from one crisis to the next. Everything has been tried but open production of a 10-year plan from this Senate that is required by law, that would allow us to openly debate and discuss concretely the financial challenges we face today. All of this secrecy allows the President to position himself as being in favor of a balanced plan--which is what he says: I favor a balanced plan--while the only comprehensive proposal, to my knowledge, he has actually laid out was in January or February of this year when he laid out his budget. Of course, it was voted down unanimously. In both the House and the Senate not a single person voted for it. But he did lay out a financial plan for the country. He put it on paper. Basically, it increases taxes to fuel more spending. That is what the plan did.…”