Wilbur Mills Quotes

If you don’t have the budget, you can’t get anything done. That’s why bureaucrats are always fighting about budgets.

Remarkably, there are leaders in Washington who don't understand why it's so important for us to have a budget.

We have been spending beyond our means, we are going to focus on the projects that we committed to in the election but importantly if there is additional projects or new things that come up they have to have a business case, they have to work and they can't impose financial stress on families and private individuals and businesses.

The American people, in their own families, they understand that you have to do that. You have to make the tough decisions. You have to get your budget. You have got to put it in order. And they expect their elected officials and their leaders to do likewise.

I would like to see this group in this Congress be starting the process to get ourselves on long term fiscal strong footing.

We're going to have to control the spending of government.

In New Mexico, I inherited the largest structural deficit in state history, and our legislature is controlled by Democrats. We don't always agree, but we came together in a bipartisan manner and turned that deficit into a surplus. And we did it without raising taxes.

But, you know, all I can do is submit my budget and then make the case to the Legislature to act.

In a budget this massive, there are certainly areas where I think we could do much better.

You care about the deficit because it allows you to do things you need to do to help people who are suffering.

Having your fiscal house in order and having a more manageable macro-economic future is going to be very useful in creating growth.

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.

Let us act with our eyes open. We are going to have a deficit next fiscal year and the year after that.

It is dangerous to play politics with the Budget.

While I'd like to be able to simply do all of my financings with a handshake or, possibly, on a napkin written in crayon, I also wish I had a herd of unicorns surrounded by rainbows, a balanced U.S. government budget, and agreement on how to address the debt ceiling issue.

As always, it would be important to ensure that any fiscal policy changes did not compromise long-run fiscal sustainability.

We can't let government make long-term commitments that it may not be able to keep.

I am proud of my record as Colorado's State Treasurer. I have protected the taxpayer's money and grown the value of the state's investments in a very challenging economy.

Our objectives are clear. Let's keep the government open and protect our constituents.

Cutting the fiscal deficit is not popular. That is the experience of all governments in all countries. Expenditure cuts hurt certain vested interests, and they don't like it.

Every year, virtually every governor balances the budget.

When you're governor, you've got to step up to the plate; you've got to make a proposal for a balanced budget. That's the requirement. And then you've got to sit down and negotiate if the folks that you need to work with disagree with you on points.

Sound public finances are not the enemy of sustained growth - they are its precondition.

How does one leave Social Security and Medicare untouched, grow defense by more than $50 billion, slash taxes, launch a $1 trillion infrastructure program - and not explode the deficit and national debt?

We can't do everything with a budget, but we can put the country on much sounder financial footing.