Quote

The important aspect as we look at this budget, and as we look at previous budgets, is the budget system - what I'm trying to get at is changing budgeting itself in Wisconsin.

I have voted to make tough decisions in budgetary times, I've served on two recessionary budgets, my opponent has never served on any a budget committee where there was less money to spend than the year before.

The budget enforcement rules of the 1990s were an important part of getting the budget back into balance. It was done on a bipartisan basis. Those pay-as-you-go rules were tested and they worked. We are now in a one-party system, and we have thrown them out.

The budgets we work on in Congress are more than just fiscal documents; they are a reflection of our moral values as well. In choosing where to spend money, members of Congress choose what priorities they value.

You want to balance the budget in this country? We change the salary structure for Congress and the President. Every year they don't balance the budget, we don't pay them.

We can't have deficit spending in Texas. You have to balance your budget every two years.

I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets.