Stand For Something, by John Kasich: on Budget & Economy

Bill Clinton: OpEd: 1995 shutdown led to first balanced budget in 40 years

George Bush Sr.: OpEd: Bush budget was terrible but Dems budget was worse

In 1989 there was offered on the House floor the President's budget, and the Democrats' rebuttal budget, and the Kasich budget. A budget needs 218 votes out of a possible 435 to win passage, and the party in power always tends to prevail in these things. We voted first on the Democratic budget. They were in the majority at that time, and they received 230 votes. Then we voted on the Bush budget, which received 213 votes, falling just short. The Kasich budget received 30 votes of approval.

Every year I offered my own budget for consideration, and my 3rd or 4th year my budget received more votes than the President got for his budget.

John Kasich: 1989 had 3 budgets: Democrats'; President's; and Kasich's

In 1989 there was offered on the House floor the President's budget, and the Democrats' rebuttal budget, and the Kasich budget. The Democratic budget received 230 votes. The Bush budget received 213 votes. The Kasich budget received 30 votes.

Every year I offered my own budget for consideration, and my 3rd or 4th year my budget received more votes than the President got for his budget, and in so doing I learned a few things about leadership. Leadership is not talking. Leadership is doing. Every time they beat my budget on the floor of the House and I lay there in a bloody heap, people knew I was committed. It wasn't talk. It was action.

John Kasich: 1995 shutdown led to first balanced budget in 40 years

As it happened, Pres. Clinton wanted to phony up the numbers on this first go-round, so we shut down the government. I look back and think it was one of the greatest moments of my career. Why? Well, typically, politicians make their decisions based on votes. And yet in at least this one instance politicians set aside these concerns and stood up for what was right. For our children. For our shared future. For America. For this one battle, for the time being, we forgot about politics and focused on good government, and if we had to take a beating for it then so b it. And as a direct result of that government shutdown in 1995, we wrote a bill that provided for the first balanced budget in nearly forty years and allowed us to pay down the largest chunk of our staggering national debt in the history of this country.

John Kasich: Sarbanes-Oxley deters legitimate American business

The cleanup continues, and frankly I don't think we're doing a good job of it. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, hailed as the most significant change to federal securities laws since the New Deal, has had a deleterious effect on American business. I see it as a clear case of the government overreacting to a serious problem, one that can't be solved through legislation. Why? Well, for one thing, you can't legislate ethical behavior; you either know the difference betwee right and wrong, or you don't.

On the positive side, Sarbanes-Oxley has established a strong set of internal controls. But they've been a deterrent to legitimate American businesses. They've put many honest businessmen and women on the defensive.