Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the issue I raised during my maiden speech on the Senate floor in 1997; that is, the need to pass a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget. I am disappointed that we were unable to pass a balanced budget amendment in 1997. I commend Senator Hatch for his efforts then. We got within one vote. We had 66 votes and we needed 67. Had we gotten that, we wouldn't be in this mess today. In 1997, our national debt was $5.4 trillion. Today, it is an astonishing $15 trillion. Without immediate action, that number will continue to increase to a level that is even more unsustainable. Time and time again, the Federal Government has proven it is incapable of the fiscal discipline needed to spend within its means. Time and time again, the Federal Government has spent more money than we brought in. It has led to the situation we currently face where we are borrowing more than 40 cents on every dollar we spend and where we are being threatened with further downgrades in our credit rating. In fiscal year 2010, the government brought in slightly more than $2.2 trillion in revenue. At the same time we collected $2.2 trillion, we spent $3.5 trillion. In other words, we overspent by $1.3 trillion. That is $1,300 billion. That is an astonishing amount of spending, and it cannot be sustained. I encourage everybody to write these numbers out with all of the zeroes sometime and see what we are talking about.…”