Political Quotes

“So what we are hearing--basically what this article tells us--is if people's income is going down, they are not going to Macy's, they are not going to Target. Those stores are not hiring workers or are getting rid of workers because the middle class does not have the income it needs. Here is a very important point. Within President Obama's recent budget--by the way, I think the President's budget is beginning to move us in the right direction--there was a very interesting projection that unfortunately got very little attention. Here is the point: Over the last 50 years GDP growth in the United States of America averaged about 3.2 percent. What the President's budget is suggesting is that more or less over the next 10 years we are going to see 3-percent growth, 3- percent--2.7, 2.5, 2.3. For the rest of the decade, 2.3 percent. The bottom line is, if we continue along the same type of economic growth we have had over the previous 50 years, unemployment would be substantially lower, people would be paying more taxes, Social Security, among other programs, would be in much stronger shape. The debate we are going to be having in the Budget Committee--I am the ranking member of the Budget Committee--are two very different philosophies. Our Republican friends believe in more austerity for the middle class and working families.…”