Political Quotes

“In the past Congress passed provisions to set up firewalls between discretionary and entitlement spending in attempts to balance the budget. It did not work. Then we tried pay-as-you-go provisions. They did not work. Just last week we had a chance to approve a budget that would have balanced the budget in 5 years. We did not pass it. When are we going to face the reality that we need something more than empty promises, we need a balanced budget amendment to our Constitution. Obviously, the current budget process has failed to bring the deficit under control. We can no longer tolerate the practice of freely granting exceptions to budget rules in order to accommodate funding demands. We must respond to the call to cease runaway spending and begin the kind of reform that the balanced budget amendment dictates. Lawmakers know full well that chronic deficits threaten the Nation's long-term prosperity. Unfortunately some believe that their short-term interest lies in spending more and more on the demands of various special interests. Still others know that we can't keep demanding American families to spend more and more in higher taxes. Therefore deficit spending provides an easy way out. The balanced budget amendment forces lawmakers to do the right thing instead of the easy thing.”