Political Quotes

“my good friend the Senator from Indiana--I am hoping this is a misunderstanding, and I hope I can explain it because I was very much involved in this process. First of all, as a former Governor, I know about the budget process. I know about balanced budgets. I used to meet every Tuesday afternoon. As Governor, I would have my finance people come to my office, and we would sit down and look at the revenue estimates. We had to make adjustments because we had a balanced budget amendment. Isn't that a novelty, a balanced budget amendment? We had to live within our confines. That is something that no one who has ever been in State government or ever run a business understands. I understand that. But it is something that we did very religiously. The language in this bill, Senator from Indiana, the only thing this bill does--or that language you were concerned about, the only thing it did--you can cut all you want to. You can manage all your money the way you want. You just can't take Federal money and use it if you cut your revenue intentionally. That is all. What we try to do is target where the money has gone. So the Treasury, you have to go--as a State, you go to the Treasury, and you show the need that you have. You show the cost--what COVID has cost your revenue and you are able to have money to replace that because COVID caused you that problem. You have also the ability to use this, in your State, for three things: water, sewer, and internet service.…”