Political Quotes

“I have a reason for coming to the floor and drawing attention to our letter and this issue again. The seriousness of our Nation's fiscal challenges--the compelling need to address these issues in a responsible and bipartisan way--did not suddenly dissipate or magically disappear over the course of the weekend that just ended. In fact, since the Commission's final meeting ended on Friday afternoon, the national debt--the running tally of what the U.S. Government owes--has increased by an estimated $15 billion. Our total national debt is a staggering $13.8 trillion. I will repeat that. Our national debt is approaching $14 trillion. Every day you can listen to a lot of talk from people in this town about deficit reduction. But as I said, when the Commission first unveiled its proposals 1 week ago, while I would have made some different choices, we were being presented with a unique opportunity to finally get real about the deficits and debt. Actually, when the Commission came out, I was a little more blunt than that. I said that after all the campaign rhetoric about deficit reduction, the time had come to put up or shut up. I believe this Commission earned credibility by describing our fiscal challenges in stark and honest terms. They deserve our respect for crafting a clear roadmap to help steer our Nation back to a more responsible fiscal path.”