Political Quotes

“I want to state to my colleagues on this budget that there are two fundamental assumptions that are being made that need to be challenged. One, you are saying that we have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. This country is spending on domestic priorities and defense at a level that existed when the President of the United States was Dwight D. Eisenhower, and that was before Medicaid and Medicare. We have a significant issue about how we are going to meet the needs of the people of this country, both on defense, where we need some help, but definitely on the domestic side as well. The second assumption that you are making--and it is an assertion that is made over and over again--is that tax cuts will pay for themselves. That is the theology of your budget: tax cuts pay for themselves. You know, why not go to zero, and we will all be rich? That is essentially what is being said here. But the tax cuts are always at the high end of the income spectrum, which is exacerbating inequality and creating a problem for us to meet essential needs in this country. So this question of tax cuts paying for themselves and fiscal responsibility, let's have a little bit of history here. This was the theology of George Bush when he passed the tax cuts when he became President. They did not pay for themselves. We went from the Clinton- era surpluses to the Bush-era deficits, and in another fiscally, grossly irresponsible move, he put the war on the credit card.…”