Robert Byrd Quotes
We can’t even project [budget surpluses and deficits] accurately month-to-month, much less for an entire year.
Robert Byrd, 1917-2010, U. S. Congressman & U. S. Senator (Democrat, WV), Senate Majority & Minority Leader, Senate Budget Hearings, January 25, 2001
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
After the Stock Market crash of 1929, Republican politicians promised "recovery is right around the corner." But La Guardia disagreed:
After many years of deficit financing, Clinton finally produced a balanced budget and together with his Secretary, of the Treasury, Robert Rubin, actually developed an economy which was producing a huge annual surplus that would soon eliminate the national debt. However, when George W. Bush replaced Clinton after two terms, Bush was unable to manage the budget any better than the other aspects of the Presidency. He cut taxes dramatically and even after it was clear that the Clinton surplus was squandered, he continued tax reductions and even increased them while increasing government spending creating the biggest government in history and went from our largest surplus to our largest deficit in his 8 years.
Commenting on the surplus in the fund:
He and Bowles were the two leaders of the Presidential National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The commission recommendations to put the nation on a sound financial footing involved sacrifice by almost every sector of American society—everyone would have to give up something that they valued. So the initial reaction of almost every interest group was to oppose the plan. Over time however, there was a realization that unless the burden would be borne by some and not by others, the plan was reasonably fair. It illustrates the initial reaction of Americans to reform proposals is to retain all the benefits that they have and have others give up their benefits.
He was one of the very few people who warned about the market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.
This position angered the extreme conservatives and the extreme liberals who both opposed him in 2012. However, the majority of the state supported him and he was elected on this middle of the road platform with most of the activists against him.
Most Republicans at the time would argue for government spending reductions except for defense spending for which they wanted an increase in most cases despite huge waste and abuse in the Department of Defense. (See {615006} for just one example). Mulvaney, a new congressman with Tea Party backing, pointed out the hypocrisy of the this Republican position over the last decades, but this had been a central part of the Ronald Reagan platform.
Robert Carlyle Byrd was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Byrd also served as a U.S. Representative for six years, from 1953 until 1959. He remains the longest-serving U.S. Senator in history; he was the longest-serving member in the history of the United States Congress until surpassed by Representative John Dingell of Michigan. He was the last remaining member of the U.S. Senate to have served during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, and he was the last remaining member of Congress to have served during the presidency of Harry S. Truman. Byrd is also the only West Virginian to have served in both chambers of the state legislature and both chambers of Congress.
