Joshua Bolten Quotations

The U.S. budget deficit is falling, and it's falling fast,

For the federal government to step in after the fact, ... would be to undermine the effectiveness of the system.

The money we are asking for today is to support all of the relief efforts for the next few weeks, during which time we can make that assessment and come back with a more informed request to Congress.

We must also redouble our efforts to reduce unnecessary spending elsewhere in the budget to help offset recovery costs and keep us on track of meeting the president's gal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009,

While the Administration will continue to seek entitlement reforms and the elimination of additional discretionary spending ... we recognize that this is an important first step in the congressional process.

The federal budget picture is ... is steadily declining out over the next five years ... toward the President's goal of cutting the deficit in half, ... I feel confident that we will remain on that path as long as we have continued good economic growth.

You know, she's a very gracious and funny person. I was racking my brain trying to think of something specific.

The $10.5 billion is, indeed, a stopgap measure. We do not have a good sense . . . of how much the recovery from this disaster is likely, ultimately, to cost.

There's no doubt that the effect of the tax cuts . . . have been an enormous factor in producing the additional income that has found its way now into the federal treasury,

Right now we see ourselves on a continuing declining path in the deficit out over the next several years toward the 2009 goal that the President talked about, ... This kind of spending adds a challenge to us in meeting those goals, but I don't think it's a long-term challenge. I think the kind of spending we're talking about here is something that will be a concern in the next year or two, and not long run for the economy.