Political Quotes

“Mr. President, we as a country are in a very serious financial situation. We all know we have to reduce spending. This year we will spend $3.7 trillion but take in only $2.2 trillion--40 cents of every $1 is borrowed. The President has acknowledged a stunning revelation, that under his budget he submitted 2 months ago, something I repeatedly have talked about--in the 10th year, the amount of interest on our debt will be almost $1 trillion. This is fact. We are on an unsustainable course. As every witness to come before the Budget Committee has told us: You have to do better. You cannot continue in this fashion any longer. The President's debt commission Chairmen, Mr. Erskine Bowles and former Senator Alan Simpson, told us we are facing the most predictable debt crisis in our history if we do not change. They did not say it could happen to our children and grandchildren, they said it could happen in 2 years. Mr. Bowles said maybe earlier than 2 years, maybe some time after that. Senator Simpson said, I think we can have a debt crisis in 1 year. Hopefully, this will not happen. But we have to get spending under control. There are two ways to do it. One is to work hard, do what we are paid to do as legislators and identify the less-productive, less-defensible spending programs and eliminate them and try to protect as much as we can the programs that are more productive and doing good for America.…”