Mike Espy Quotes

Our system of keeping the federal government's books is a monument to the creativity of mankind ... We've cut government spending for 15 years in a row, and yet have spent more money in each of those years.

Putting together a sustainable budget requires that we all work together, that we focus our scarce resources on key priorities, and that we strengthen our capacity to deliver the best product we can for the American people. And that takes money.

In a budget this massive, there are certainly areas where I think we could do much better.

Taxpayers need a businessman who knows how to create jobs, cut costs and balance budgets.

The only way to meet the situation [the financial crisis] is spend less money and to run the City of New York within the limits of our resources. Unless you do this, gentlemen, you will have a difficult problem confronting you by the end of this year and the taxpayers of 1922 and the years thereafter will have to pay the price of our present lack of prudence or our unwillingness to economize at the proper time.

Let us act with our eyes open. We are going to have a deficit next fiscal year and the year after that.

A budget must be more than a ledger sheet. It should have a heart and serve as a blueprint for a better quality of life for all residents.

The revenue you take in should be enough to cover the revenue that you spend and go beyond that to get a reserve. In order to do that we [in California] need cuts and pension reforms, and taxes.

I did not come into government to win an award as the great accountant in the sky and balance budgets.

The American people, in their own families, they understand that you have to do that. You have to make the tough decisions. You have to get your budget. You have got to put it in order. And they expect their elected officials and their leaders to do likewise.

As Indiana's governor, I balanced eight budgets, never raised taxes, and left the largest surplus in state history. It wasn't always easy. Cuts had to be made and some initiatives deferred. Occasionally I had to say 'no.'

It's insane to try to balance the budget.

If you don't get spending under control, eventually you're going to have a big tax increase.

A budget is a moral document.

Our national leaders could learn some good habits and important lessons from city hall to take the place of the various gimmicks being used in Washington to duck federal budget responsibility.

[The] up-and-down pattern of [defense] spending over the last 18 years averages out to below zero percent real growth. In other words, if defense spending had followed a path of zero percent real growth, the U.S. probably could have obtained more defense for its dollar.

At a time of tight budgets, unless something is really broken and not working, they [his congressional colleagues] just don't get excited about it.

I do not pretend to step out of my own sphere and to control the internal management of other departments, but it seems to me that as Secretary of the Treasury, I may ask, that, while peace continues, the aggregate of the expenditure of those departments be kept within bounds such as will preserve the equilibrium between the national revenue and expenditure without recurrence to loans.

Like Ike [President Eisenhower] did. Talk economy and then spend away.

A behemoth budget does not mean there is much discretion in allocating it.

If you don’t have the budget, you can’t get anything done. That’s why bureaucrats are always fighting about budgets.

The first order of business is the elimination of the annual deficit.

As Speaker of the North Carolina House, I've proven I'm a problem-solver, balancing budgets, cutting wasteful spending, and providing teachers with historic pay raises.

I've been a conservative when it comes to budgeting issues and streamlining government.

Budgets can make or break reputations and governments.