Eric Greitens Quotes

Setting the state budget is one of the most important tasks we undertake at the state Capitol - because after all, it's the people's money - not the government's.

There are two important things to remember about 'entitlements': They are hugely popular programs for a very good reason, and actual sensible 'reform' would mean improving them, not sacrificing them at the altar of 'fiscal responsibility.'

I was able to promote a strong defense budget when it could have been cut a lot more severely.

Conservatives should insist that defense spending be examined with the same seriousness that we demand in examining the books of those government agencies that spend taxpayer money in the name of welfare, the environment, or education.

I'm sort of suspicious of most economic development projects, but the ones that encourage taxpayer-funded relocation bidding wars should be declared unconstitutional.

Homeland Security money ought not to be allocated on a pork barrel basis.

I'm not going to deprive my constituents of money that's out there.

The essence of government is making necessary choices between competing uses of public resources.

We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right [individually] to appropriate a dollar of the public money.

We ought to prioritize national disasters... in a fiscally responsible way.

Government is about priorities.

If you look at history we've had since I've been in office, in an environment where we haven't had earmarks, we've still been able to get tens of millions of dollars for McLennan County.

On the Sandy bill, I did the best I could on waste, fraud and abuse, and then when the final bill comes, you don't say, 'Hell, no' because you didn't get everything you want in there.

We are at a crossroads over how the federal government in Washington and state legislatures and city councils across the land allocate their financial resources. Which fork we take will say a lot about Americans and our values.

We got plenty of money in Washington. What we need is more priority.

When it comes to paying contractors, the sky is the limit; when it comes to financing the basic functions of the state, the coffers are empty.

The national budget is not a safe-deposit box. It is a spray can.

Who's going to do a better job of spending your money? You or the government?

The money that government spends is your money, not government's, and you know how to spend it better.

The budget is absolutely interlinked - our ability to fund our education system, to clean up drinking water, is linked with our ability to rebuild roads in this state. I'm not signing anything unless it's all done together.

Provision of facilities to the masses is linked with the collection of taxes.

If the government can afford luxury travel for its cabinet officials, then surely we can find the resources to invest in quality education, jobs skills training, and properly fund the State Department and foreign aid programs.

This is other people's money that Washington is appropriating and spending.

People understand that they can spend their money better than the government can.

We won't accomplish our goals by creating a new federal bureaucracy or by bribing states with their own taxpayers' money.