President Bill Clinton

“I would like to see them do… what Simpson-Bowles said. Simpson-Bowles said, ‘Pass our plan… but trigger it when there is clearly growth.’”

“Simpson-Bowles actually makes the Social Security system more progressive. That’s one thing I love about it.”

“We listen to the rhetoric of politicians and we pay almost no attention to their specifics … Most people you vote for actually try to do what they say they’re going to do when they’re running. So the American people have got to take some ownership here, too.”

“I think this budget issue ought to become front and center in the presidential election, in all the debates, in very specific ways.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH)

“We’ve talked this problem to death. It’s about time we roll up our sleeves and get to work.”

Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury

“Anybody who’s had the responsibility of governing has to recognize that these deficits are unsustainable in the long run.”

Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI)

“I believe that if we remove the partisan roadblocks that are in front of us, we can realize a real entitlement restructuring plan, an economic growth plan that actually prevents the debt crisis from happening.”

“We can still have a system where those who organized their lives around these promises can still get those promises fulfilled. But those of us who are younger will have to change these programs. And we can do it in a way that protects the poor, the sick, and asks more of the wealthy.”

Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)

“We must act now to put in place a plan to reduce our long-term deficits and rising debt. The question is not whether we need to have such a plan. The question is how that plan works.”

“If you refuse from the outset to ask the wealthiest Americans to contribute more for deficit reduction, then your budget has to hit everyone and everything else harder. That’s just simple math.”

• Finding the Political Will to Act panel:

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH)

“My view is we shouldn’t be arguing about [the] Bush tax cuts. We should be arguing about tax reform. And this is an opportunity for us not to keep the current code and add more taxes on top of it, but to reform the code in a way that economists across the board pretty much agree would result in a better economic climate.”

Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA)

“The biggest deficit we face today is a jobs deficit. And if you can get people back to work, guess what? They’re paying taxes. And if they’re paying taxes, the Treasury has more money. The Treasury has more money, lower deficits.”

“We’ve got enough templates out there to guide us, whether it’s Bowles-Simpson, Rivlin-Domenici—both plans bipartisan, both plans dealt with what I think most observers say must be the elements of a good compromise: that is restraints on spending, increases to real revenue, and making sure that the policies both interplay so that you have economic growth… It’s not rocket science.”

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Ph.D.

“I don’t think it’s productive to spend time asking who’s to blame. There’s plenty of blame to go around. I think the question is how do we get to where we need to go and bring the electorate along with us?”

Patricia Murphy

“There will be a bargain because each side has so much to lose—and they have a lot to gain just by being able to come out of a room with the deal.”

• The Everyday Impact of Rising Debt and the Benefits of Fiscal Reform panel:

Senator Alan Simpson

“When the tipping point comes… it won’t come from Democrats or Republicans or anybody you know. It’ll come from people who loan us money… And at that point inflation will kick in and interest rates will kick in and the guy that gets hurt the most is the little guy.”

Mayor Michael A. Nutter, City of Philadelphia

“I think every survey has shown that Democrats, Republicans, Independent, Tea Party, Libertarian, whatever you want to be, everyone is calling for compromise. Unfortunately, 500-some folks here [in Washington], I think, are not really listening because they’re talking amongst themselves in a room.”

Jay Fishman, Chairman and CEO, The Travelers Companies, Inc.

“I don’t think that there’s any one solution. I think there’s 50 solutions to this. The only one that doesn’t work is the one we’re doing now, which is nothing.”

“It gets back to your question earlier, how much time do we have? What we don’t know are the geopolitical factors that could turn that all upside-down quickly.”

Peter G. Peterson, Chairman, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

“We are often presented with the phony choice of either focusing on the short-term economic recovery or addressing our long-term fiscal challenges. I believe we can and must do both. Any measures to boost growth in the short term could be accompanied by a longer term fiscal plan that is not implemented until the economy recovers.”

“I am greatly concerned that kicking the can down the road, this time an $8 trillion can, would send a dangerous signal to the financial markets. Let us not forget that this can we keep kicking around is in fact a fiscal grenade. One kick too many and it could trigger a crisis.”

Michael A. Peterson, President, Peter G. Peterson Foundation

“Reform of this scale can’t happen without the engagement of Americans. Everyone needs to be a part of this process so that together, we can decide how best to build a future for our children and grandchildren.”