Political Quotes

“I would point out to my colleagues how much $4 billion is. It is a matter that we deal with on a regular basis around here. It is a number that has come up several times recently. For example, we had a shortfall in our plans to fund the Federal highway program--a deeply disappointing event that we couldn't get that bill passed. It started out as a $4 billion shortfall. They worked that number down, but it is still not fully paid for. We would like just a few billion dollars to pay for the bill, and it hasn't been passed. The student loan fixed rate where the interest rates would be dropped--if I am not mistaken, that was $4 billion. We need it to reduce interest rates on student loans. That is $4 billion, according to the IG, going out of our country wrongfully every year that we could save. The President spent a lot of time traveling around the country saying we should raise taxes on the rich and we should pass the Buffett tax. He had a proposal for the Buffett tax. How much would the Buffett tax raise? It would raise $4 billion. That is how much closing this loophole would raise. Frankly, I am a little disappointed that the Treasury Department officials and the administration itself haven't immediately seized upon this loophole that is costing the taxpayers large amounts of money and responded themselves by sending legislation over and asking us to pass it. Why aren't they asking us to pass it to begin with?…”