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We should reduce total government spending as a percentage of the economy. The left wants to focus on the deficit so they can take us away from the focus on spending as a percentage of the economy.

The question is: How do we reduce spending from 25% of GDP, which is where Obama put us? The focus is on total government spending. Can we bring it down, in a reasonable and politically acceptable way? That's what the Paul Ryan plan does. It puts us on a gradual reform path to reducing the size of government.

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

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

The only way that we can reduce our financial dependence on the inflow of funds from the rest of the world is to reduce our trade deficit.

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

Well, first of all, let's go right to it. We're going to balance the budget. We should live within our own means, and we should read the bills and work with the American people.

Everybody has to agree that the best thing we can do to start reducing the deficit in this country is to put people back to work.

We have to reduce the burden placed on our economy by years of deficits and debt.

Let us invest less and less in war and tax cuts for the richest 1 percent, and more and more in jobs and schools for the other 99 percent.