Tim Pawlenty Quotes

Fiscal responsibility and government reform are going to be good themes for governing, well at any time, but particularly coming out of a recovery.

The real goal should be reduced government spending, rather than balanced budgets achieved by ever rising tax rates to cover ever rising spending.

As a fiscal conservative, I think that our government should pay for itself.

We need to replace hyperbole with a reasonable, informed discussion about how to reinvent the federal budget with more transparency and better accountability.

The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, the public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled.

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

We need to focus on issues where we all agree, which is spending discipline and control and making sure that government, both in Springfield and in Washington, doesn't take more from your family budget.

There are always ways to make government better, always ways to make sure that the taxes of people are better spent.

As Chief Secretary to the Treasury, my first responsibility is to the taxpayer.

You can't have it both ways. You can't tell me that you're taxed enough already, and that you want constitutional government and then in the next breath say, 'Bring me home some bacon.' The pig has been picked clean.

All the states are required, either by constitution or by statute, to have balanced budgets - they're not able to print money. So they have to focus on establishing priorities.

Government does not have a revenue problem; government has a spending problem. Government does not have a revenue problem; government has a priority problem. It is time that we begin to fine tune our focus and decide what the priority of government ought to be.

What you really want to do is sit down and find a place that you can control government spending and raise more revenue.

It is time we passed a balanced budget amendment and return this government to limited spending.

Well, first of all, let's go right to it. We're going to balance the budget. We should live within our own means, and we should read the bills and work with the American people.

Obama has demonstrated no desire to make tough choices. Americans demand a more efficient, effective government, but his budget calls for more taxes and more spending. It employs deceptive accounting gimmicks but does nothing to tackle long-term entitlement problems, nothing to save Medicare or fix Social Security.

If you ask people do you think that government should spend less money than what it takes in, most people agree with that.

I understand that government should live within its means, value the money it holds in trust from you the taxpayer, avoid waste and, above all else, observe the first maxim of good government: namely, do no avoidable harm.

Governing isn't as easy as you think. Many of you have taken pledges that are contradictory - to balance the budget and cut taxes, for example. You must be honest about the numbers, since our annual deficit now exceeds all discretionary spending combined.

I think what they're looking for is for us to keep our promises and to do the simple things, like cutting spending and being responsible.

There is no real justification for a requirement that a budget of any sort should be balanced, except as a rallying point for those who seek to hamstring government.

The Republican name used to be synonymous with limiting the size and scope of government, and we need to re-establish that reputation. We must work to eliminate government waste, make certain taxpayer dollars go to meaningful programs, and leave resources directly with the people.

As a taxpayer, I want to assure you that Republicans are doing everything we can to reduce wasteful spending.

We in Tennessee know that low taxes, less government, and less spending are the ways to grow our economy.

My slogan when I ran was that there is no such thing as government money, there is only taxpayer's money, and that cut pretty deep.