Tim Scott Quotes

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.

I think the whole issue of a debt ceiling makes no sense to me whatsoever. Anybody who is remotely adroit at arithmetic doesn't need a debt ceiling to tell you where you are.

The failure to work out sensible budgets makes it impossible for government agencies to make long-term plans, and instead leaves them scrambling to spend money in the short term.

It is not an arrogant government that chooses priorities, it's an irresponsible government that fails to choose.

It is time for us to insist that we are accountable for the money that we are spending.

Putting together a sustainable budget requires that we all work together, that we focus our scarce resources on key priorities, and that we strengthen our capacity to deliver the best product we can for the American people. And that takes money.

My goal was to do the best job I could in governing the state of Wisconsin, in some cases making very tough decisions to have to bring our spending in line with the resources we had at the state level.

All sensible politicians favor growth, just as we all favor sound public finances. Both can be achieved if we rationalize spending, invest available resources wisely, and clamp down on tax evasion.

Rather than waiting to restore fiscal responsibility after we pass legislation, we must work to ensure we remain committed to it as we draft legislation.

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.

We have to be realistic about what the state can afford, and put an end to abuses of the system that cost millions.

What I'm not saying is that all government spending is bad. It's not - far, far from it, but there is no free lunch, as a former colleague of mine used to say. There is no public tooth fairy. Father Christmas does not work on the Treasury staff this year. You can never bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble.

The debt ceiling should never be part of the budget negotiation process.

Congress is not an ATM

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

We need a straitjacket around Congress when it comes to spending so that they are forced to do what 49 states are required to do and what every family business and every family is required to do, and that's live within their means.

Every year, virtually every governor balances the budget.

Sometimes you have to make tough decisions to hold the line on spending.

I always cooperate to complete a film within the budget. Not a single film of mine has overshot its budget.

What's really important to me is that we have fiscally responsible balanced budgets.

You can save a lot of money when you have responsible and bold policies that are in line with our principles, and we are telling the truth to Canadians.

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

Balanced budget requirements seem more likely to produce accounting ingenuity than genuinely balanced budgets.

Nigeria, with the oil sector, had the reputation of being corrupt and not managing its own public finances well. So what did we try to do? We introduced a fiscal rule that de-linked our budget from the oil price.