I don't go to the federal government and say, 'Fund my program.'
When you talk about entitlement programs, it's not just about - it's not about cutting those programs. It is about saving those programs. Those programs are on a path of fiscal unsustainability.
I don’t believe in subsidized programs because by and large they are not sustainable.
Here we were talking about economic development, about investing billions of dollars in various programs, and I could see it wasn't billions of dollars people needed right away.
The mainstream press, like the Democrats, think a government program has ‘succeeded’ when the bill is passed and the funding distributed. Rarely do we ask: is this well-managed, well-conceived? Does it actually work?
Federal program and services outlay in Puerto Rico is approximately $10 billion per year.
We must bite the bullet and provide the resources to make programs come alive.
The issue comes down to this: The NSA metadata-collection program costs lots of money, and had funds not been expended on it, they could have been used to support other programs that might have been far more effective in saving American lives.
Once a program loses it's identity, it loses its advocacy, and then it loses its dollars.
I'm not someone who funds buildings. That doesn't interest me. I'm more interested in programs.
When you had just three and then four channels, I could always find something that was watchable because the standard of TV was much higher. In those days, they had so much more money to put into so many less programmes.
The only way we can give our children the best education in the world and prepare them for the next century is by funding the programs that serve them.
I think $100 at the end of the year doesn't mean a lot to me, but $100 from everyone in the state at the end of the year could mean lots of programs that could be good for Hawaii.
The way our federal agencies are funded, the way the authorizing of these programs are done, I think needs to be completely revamped.
Last year, New York got $200 million. This year, we're going to give them $124 million under this particular program. But last year was an artificially elevated number to make up from the very low grant the year before.
We can't spend money on programs just because they sound good... Meals on Wheels sounds great.
We need to root out the waste and abuse that is rampant in our state agencies. When we do that and grow the economy, we will be able to fund the vital programs and services we need.
Unfunded mandates are an insidious way for government at one level to pass on to governments at a lower level responsibility for the funding of programs. Governments at the higher levels can take credit for instituting the program, but lower levels of government have to produce the funding.
You can not be a conservative if you're going to keep promoting new programs that you're not going to pay for.
