Charles Boustany Quotes

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

Most of the major increases in the debt ceiling have been accompanied by structural changes in the way we raise and spend money.

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

It's all right to agree or disagree on the balanced budget amendment. It's all right to talk about how we're going to appropriate.

We are worried about the size of the deficit, which is why the president is pleased that the House and Senate have followed his lead in cutting the deficit in half over the next five years.

Of course we have to address the deficit if we win.

Memo to Congress: America's problem is not that government is too small. It's the spending, stupid!

Cutting budget deficits can never be just an exercise in economics.

I came to Congress to help reduce spending.

Bush has never sent over a balanced budget.

Look, I'm very much in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money. And the problem that we've gotten into in recent years is spending programs with borrowed money, tax cuts with borrowed money, and at the end of the day that proves disastrous. And my view is I don't think we can play subtle policy here.

Well, a deficit reflects an imbalance between spending and revenue, and so narrowing it requires acting on one, the other or both.

If you raise taxes, it won't reduce the deficit. The other team will simply spend the resources.

There are only two honest ways to reduce our debt: cut spending or raise revenues.

I think the government lost control over fiscal policy in UPA-2. But it is possible to suggest that the momentum of the populism of UPA-1 did the damage when the economy slowed down, but government spending could not.

Not in the constitution, but I would propose a law to the French parliament that provides for reducing the budget deficit year by year, until we have reached a balanced budget by 2017.

I'm coming to Washington, D.C., to do the people's work. And the people's work has to do with reducing spending and cutting budgets and, and trying to get a grip on the size of government.

You remember had this gigantic clock in the arena showing the size of the national debt. And Paul told America, if you elect Republicans, we can fix that. But, if Paul Ryan was being honest, he would've pointed to the debt clock and said, we built that.

You know, even people who talk about cutting spending and they go 'That's not the spending that I was actually talking about that you're supposed to be cutting.' Well, we have to be looking across the board.

We should reduce total government spending as a percentage of the economy. The left wants to focus on the deficit so they can take us away from the focus on spending as a percentage of the economy.

The American people know that we cannot spend our way to prosperity.

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.

People try to live within their income so they can afford to pay taxes to a government that can't live within its income.

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