Lawmakers, Policy Experts, Opinion Makers Pump up the Volume on Government Spending

New polls out this week show Americans are increasingly anxious about government spending. According to Resurgent Republic, 62% of registered voters think deep spending cuts are necessary now. Only 28% think federal spending should be kept at current levels. And, according to Bloomberg, a majority of Americans think the best way to create jobs is to cut government spending and taxes.

A few lawmakers, policy experts, and opinion makers tapped into this theme early in the week. By Friday, it was a cacophony: everyone was wondering, is the leadership in Washington serious about cutting spending?

Here’s What They Said …

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV): “I know it’s not easy. I know that it takes compromise. I know it will be partisan and difficult. I know that everyone will have to give up something and no one will want to relinquish anything. But that is what the American people are demanding. Respectfully, I am asking President Obama to take this challenge head on, bring people together and propose a compromise plan for dealing with our nation’s fiscal challenges, both now and for the future. (Manchin Senate Floor Speech, 3/8/11)

David Primo, RealClearPolitics: “Elected officials need to start leading and educating. … These changes won’t be easy – our instinct as human beings is to focus on the short-run over the long-run – but they are necessary to prevent much greater budgetary pain in the future.” (David Primo, “Short-Term Budget Thinking by Rs and Ds,” RealClearPolitics, 3/10/11)

Jacob Sallium, Chicago-Sun Times: “In the context of federal spending that will total something like $3.8 trillion this year, $61 billion is a rounding error. … In these absurd times, when both parties quibble over crumbs while the layer cake of debt rises higher and higher.” (Jacob Sallium, “Dems not taking debt seriously,” Chicago Sun-Times, 3/9/11)

Erskine Bowles, Former White House Chief of Staff and Co-Chair, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “This problem is going to happen long before my grandchildren grow up. This is a problem we are going to have to face up to it maybe two years, maybe a little less, maybe a little more. …The problem is real. The solutions are painful, and we have to act.” (Damien Paletta, “Bowles, Simpson: Fiscal Crisis Could Come Within 2 Years,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/8/11)

Bowles: “I really am pleading with you — please make the tough choices … Reduce spending, reduce it in the defense budget, reduce in the non-defense budget, in the entitlements, in the tax code” and “please in doing it eliminate these dreadful deficits.” (Heidi Przybyla and Brian Faler, Debt Plan Rejected as U.S. Panel Disagrees on Taxes, Social Security Cuts,” Bloomberg, 12/3/10)

Alan Simpson, Former Senate Whip and Co-Chair, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “You have got people sitting at their dining room table with their head in their hands looking around, lost their jobs, got foreclosed. And they’re saying there is one group that hasn’t chipped in on this anguish, and it’s the federal government. Time for them to cough up.”  (PBS NewsHour Interview, 12/1/10)

Alice Rivlin, Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve and and Member, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “The fundamental point is that failure to reign in the rising debt poses an enormous risk to our economic vitality and national security in the relatively near term. We cannot afford non-essential spending for any broad purpose — whether it’s health or education or defense — until we get our federal budget back on a sustainable track.” (Anna Cameron, “Defense Cuts Must Be On The Table, Say Experts,” Talk Radio News Service, 2/25/2011)

David Cote, Chairman and CEO of Honeywell and Member, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “It’s Main Street that gets hurt because we didn’t act when we should have … It’s been said many times but it’s still true: No guts, no glory.”(Jeanne Sahadi, “National debt: ‘Time for gridlock is over,’” CNNMoney, 3/9/11)

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA): “If we put this [serious cuts] off, we are approaching financial Armageddon … We don’t need another study. We need to start.” (Jennifer Epstein, “Mark Warner, Saxby Chambliss hawk budget cuts,” Politico, 3/8/11)

Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA): “[The government’s fiscal picture] has gotten so serious that Republicans and Democrats alike, I think, agree that we’ve got to solve the problem.” (Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Senate Deficit ‘Gang’ Tests Power of Bipartisan Teams,” Businessweek, 2/18/11)

Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND), Member, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “I believe it without question that we are on a course that will lead to a financial disaster … And it is our responsibility to bring the country back from the brink.” (Stephen Ohlemacher, “Biggest budget hurdles targeted,” AP, 2/18/11)

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), Member, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “The hard truth is we’re running out of time. If we don’t make hard choices about spending in the next few years, the international financial community will force even more difficult choices on us. The time for real leadership, hard choices and bold action – on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue – is now.” (Dr. Tom Coburn, “Hard choices cannot wait another year,” The Washington Examiner, 1/25/11)

Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID), Member, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “Getting federal spending and the national debt under control is a key factor for any blueprint for fiscal responsibility.” (Crapo Press Release, 11/10/10)

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Member, Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform: “All politicians, left or right, Democrat or Republican, have to acknowledge the deficit crisis our nation faces. Borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar we spend for missiles or food stamps is unsustainable.” (Dick Durbin, “Why I’m voting ‘yes,’” Chicago Tribune, 12/2/10)