James Lankford Quotes

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

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.

Make no mistake: I will work with both Democrats and Republicans to cut wasteful spending and reduce our debt in a balanced, responsible way.

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.

We can't continue to tax, borrow, and spend at the rates that we are, and it's just got to be stopped.

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.

Now make no mistake, I think we need a strong dose of fiscal conservatism in Washington, D.C.

Even with not having a balanced budget at this time, I support tax cuts. That will help limit spending.

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.

My opponent Senator Menendez and his colleagues are pursuing what I consider a Jon Corzine economic policy. Higher taxes, more spending, more debt.

I think where I differ a little bit, we absolutely have to think about the deficit looking down the road. And certainly that's something the president has said that we need to, as the economy recovers, have a plan in place for getting it down.

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.

Instead of raising taxes as some would insist, we need to reduce waste and inefficiency in government.

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.

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.

It's time to cut up Uncle Sam's credit card.

The first order of business is the elimination of the annual deficit.

My highest priority is to make sure we get Americans back to work. And that we have rising incomes again and that we have a deficit reduction program in place that convinces the world that we're on track to having a balanced budget.

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

It's much more powerful to say I'm working to reduce spending, deal with our nation's deficit, push back on the federal government, and give specifics for that rather than just say, 'I'm a conservative.'

I believe very firmly that we can get to balanced budgets without raising taxes and without cutting transfers to the provinces or to individuals.

I think America is strong enough to fix the problems, grace and honor to D.C. I think energy independence and control spending. We have to go to a balanced budget. Quite frankly, as far as our debt goes, I don't think you can tax your way out of it. I think people are taxed enough.

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.