Political Quotes

“I rise in support of the Wise balanced budget amendment and in opposition to the Stenholm and other Republican amendments. As a former Member of the Virginia State Assembly Finance Committee, I helped balance seven consecutive State budgets. We did not do it because it was easy. We did not say to the voters that we had all the answers. We did it because Virginians demand that we keep our fiscal house in order and our Constitution says it. Forty-nine out of fifty States balance their budgets. Millions of businesses and families every year balance their budgets. I do not think we even need to talk any more about whether the Federal Government should be made to do the same. Of course, it should. The question is are we going to give the Federal Government the same tools that States, the private sector, and families use to balance their budgets? If we vote for the Stenholm amendment, I believe the answer is no. These plans continue the same budgetary shell game that has been played for decades. The Federal Government holds the notion that there is no difference between the money they borrow to pay yearly expenses and the money they spend on long-term investment. No business, no family in the country, budgets this way, certainly no State governments. Businesses borrow to build factories; families borrow to buy homes; and States borrow to build prisons and roads.…”