Mitch Daniels Government Quotations

We recognize the federal government plays a very important role in researching cures for disease, and, therefore, our budget increases the NIH budget for 2002 by $2.8 billion, the largest increase in that department's history,

We owe it to Hoosier taxpayers to look for every opportunity to save money, ... State government does not need one vehicle for every three employees, or 20 aircraft. These vehicle auctions alone have returned more than $1.5 million to state government, but the greater savings are in operations and maintenance no longer necessary.

Yes, we hired an out-of-state firm to run it, but it created 300 jobs in a hard-hit county and saved us $6 million a year we were paying to Kentucky to house our prisoners, ... I have no theological view about privatization, but I believe we should look at competition or contracting when looking at services the government should be providing. What is the most effective way?

Revenues, tax payments to the federal government -- which generally rise and fall, historically have risen and fallen with the economy and with economic growth -- have been weaker than we expected. And this is due, apparently, almost entirely, to what I will call stock market-related income,

As you know, Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provisions require that firms seeking to do business with the government have a satisfactory record of business ethics and integrity. Consideration should be given to the initiation of suspension or debarment proceedings for all, or a part, of Arthur Andersen and Enron as appropriate.

Government does not create jobs, it only creates the conditions that make jobs more or less likely.

Our morbidly obese federal government needs not just behavior modification but bariatric surgery.

When they call the slightest spending reductions 'painful', we will say 'If government spending prevents pain, why are we suffering so much of it?' And 'If you want to experience real pain, just stay on the track we are on.'

We say that anytime budgets are balanced and an ample savings account has been set aside, government should just stop collecting taxes. Better to leave that money in the pockets of those who earned it, than to let it burn a hole, as it always does, in the pockets of government

I certainly believe in limited government but protecting children against injury abuse is certainly inside my sphere of things that the government should do.

The federal government now spends one of every four dollars in the entire economy. It borrows one of every three dollars it spends. No nation, no entity, large or small, public or private, can thrive, or survive intact, with debts as huge as ours.

We see government's mission as fostering and enabling the important realms - our businesses, service clubs, Little Leagues, churches - to flourish.

We believe that government works for the benefit of private life, and not the other way around.