ALEXANDER Says we must meet two “urgent” goals: reducing our debt, and meeting our financial obligat Alexander: “We Can’t Go From Being the Most Creditworthy Nation in the World to Being a Nation that Pays Its Bills Out of a Cigar Box”
PoliticalNews.me - Jul 25,2011 - Alexander: “We Can’t Go From Being the Most Creditworthy Nation in the World to Being a Nation that Pays Its Bills Out of a Cigar Box”
Says we must meet two “urgent” goals: reducing our debt, and meeting our financial obligations, and Cut, Cap, and Balance “is a good way to meet [those] two goals”
“Do we really want to inject this level of uncertainty into the turbulence we have today and into the financial markets when we know we could avoid it? I think not.”
– Lamar Alexander
WASHINGTON – In a speech delivered on the floor of the United States Senate U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said the nation runs the risk of pricier borrowing and global uncertainty “if we play around with this idea of the United States of America—the most creditworthy country in the world—selectively paying its bills, going from being the most creditworthy country to being a country that pays its bills out of a cigar box,” alluding to a friend in Tennessee who stores his bills in a cigar box and pays each one, arbitrarily, as the money comes in.
“There is every reason in the world to regard the debt ceiling decision we have to make as an opportunity to take a significant step to reduce the debt,” Alexander said. “We can do that while still honoring our financial obligations, and we should. Cut, Cap, and Balance is a good way to meet [those] two urgent goals.”
A full transcript of Senator Alexander’s speech follows:
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I congratulate the senator from Texas for her remarks, for her leadership, for her willingness to be involved in and support a variety of ways for us to meet the two goals we have before us, one of which is to make a significant step to reduce our federal debt, to stop Washington from spending money it doesn't have; second, to do so in a way that honors the financial obligations of the United States of America, the most creditworthy country in the world.
The Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, which has passed the House and has 37 cosponsors in the Senate – I am proud to be one of them – I think is a superior piece of legislation. I hope when we vote on it, it gets a majority of votes in the Senate and becomes law. Before I speak about the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, I would like to speak for a moment about those two goals that are before us as we consider our debt, consider our financial obligations, and consider all of them up against what is said to be a point on August 2nd, when the debt ceiling needs to be increased.
As I think about those two goals – reducing our debt, honoring our obligations – I think about a friend of mine in Tennessee who pays his bills out of a cigar box. This is how it works: A bill comes in to my friend
