Political Quotes

“Mr. President, earlier this month, Congress sent the President another continuing resolution to allow more time to resolve the partisan impasse that has us on the brink of a government shutdown once again. A continuing resolution just allows agencies to continue to spend money without knowing how much they actually get to spend. The current episode is yet another example of the breakdown of what should be the basic nuts and bolts of government--keeping the government open and funded. In other words, they have been spending money since last October without knowing how much money they get to spend. So I come to the floor today to talk about the need to reform our broken budget and appropriations process and to lay out a few ideas I have for how to do that. As chairman of the Budget Committee, I have worked on budget appropriations and process reform for several years and always believed that changes need to be guided by two core principles. The first principle is that reforms should end brinksmanship and the threat of government shutdowns; and No. 2, reforms should guide us to create enforceable plans to stop the outrageous growth of our Federal debt, which is approaching $22 trillion. According to the Congressional Budget Office, Federal debt held by the public, as a percentage of our economy, is at the highest level since shortly after World War II. That debt is expected to rise sharply over the next 30 years if current laws generally remain unchanged.…”