Political Quotes

“I would like to thank the other side for their support of the underlying bill and for their comments that give rise to the challenge we may have in actually funding the legislation. Sixteen years ago, we had a Democratic majority, and we passed a budget and an economic plan. It passed without a single Republican vote--not one in the House, not one in the Senate. It was signed by President Clinton. In 8 years, we eliminated the debt. As a matter of fact, at the end of the 8 years, when Chairman Greenspan was testifying before Congress, the questions he was asked were questions like: What will happen when we pay off the national debt? What will happen to the bond market? What will happen to interest rates when we pay off the national debt? It was anticipated that year that we were to clear up all of the debt held by the public. The median income went up about $7,000. Tens of millions of jobs were created. The Dow Jones industrial average more than tripled. Then in 2001, the Republican plan was adopted--the Republicans who have been lecturing on for the last few minutes about the economy. As a direct result of their plan, we had the worst job performance since the Great Depression. The Dow Jones Industrial Average did not triple. It went down. The median income actually went down. We did not pay off the national debt. We almost doubled the national debt.”