Ann McLane Kuster Quotes

Let us have the courage to stop borrowing to meet continuing deficits. Revenues must cover expenditures by one means or another. Any government, like any family, can, for a year, spend a little more than it earns. But you know and I know that a continuation of the habit means the poor house.

I am prepared to discuss the things that I believe we need to do not just to raise the debt limit. Raising the debt limit is the easiest thing. That's one vote away. The hard thing is to show the world we are serious about putting our spending in order so we can show people we'll able to pay our bills down the road.

If we didn't propose these reforms, we would not have proposed a budget that got the debt under control.

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.

We had a $10 billion budget deficit when we got here in January of 2003. We cut that budget deficit; we did not raise taxes; we came back in '05, and we had an $8 billion surplus. That's how fast it can happen.

We still have a major problem in debt with America that we have to find efficiencies in government to get us back to a balanced budget.

The people of Illinois sent me to Springfield to end the era of unbalanced budgets and runaway debt.

In addition to reining in spending, taxes, tolls and fees, let's rein in how much the state borrows.

The budget enforcement rules of the 1990s were an important part of getting the budget back into balance. It was done on a bipartisan basis. Those pay-as-you-go rules were tested and they worked. We are now in a one-party system, and we have thrown them out.

In my political career, I'd like to see a constitutional balanced budget amendment.

The Tea Party knows that continuing to delay charting a course to spending reform hurts everybody.

My point is cutting spending shouldn't be reliant on the debt limit though. It's something we have to do. The good news for America is, leaders in both parties, the president, believe that we have to have significant deficit reduction. So the intent is there. And I think what America is going to demand is that our leaders come together.

Defense spending as a share of the economy dropped significantly during the early 1990s, and that was one of the things, along with other policy changes, that put us back on the path to a balanced budget.

If it took multiple debt ceiling hikes, I'd rather achieve the savings.

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

I'd be a lot more excited about eliminating earmarks if we reduced all of the spending by whatever the earmarks used to be, but nobody's, apparently, going to talk about doing that.

Bush has never sent over a balanced budget.

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

When Mr. Obama entered office, he said all the right things about getting Washington spending under control. He even promised to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Obviously, that didn't happen.

The deficit only became a big problem in the Reagan-Bush years. For 12 years, Republican presidents talked about balancing the budget, but failed to propose one.

The Gillard government must give up its addiction to wasteful spending borrowing and taxing.

The goal is to reduce the size and scope of government spending, not to focus on the deficit. The deficit is the symptom of the disease.

I would vote to increase the debt limit if there was a corresponding level of cuts. And if there was some serious talk about a balanced budget amendment, which we as governors always had to deal with.

I'm for a balanced budget now.

It's time to stop spending money we don't have and balance the budget.