At today's meeting with Governor Mitt Romney, Senator Carr said (exact quote):

"America is just one budget deal away from ending all talk of America being in decline."

Senator Carr's comment was in praise of American economic strengths.

Reports suggesting these were a criticism of the American economy are incorrect.

The comment repeats a published statement by Senator Carr at the CSIS Banyan Tree Leadership Forum in Washington D.C. on April 25, 2012:

"This notion that I've been thinking of for the last few days, and that is that America could be one budget deal away - in the context of economic recovery - one budget deal away from banishing the notion of American declinism.

Think about that: one budget deal, an exercise of statesmanship up the road in the context of an economic bounceback.

And all of a sudden, with energy independence crystallising, with technological innovation, resurgence of American manufacturing,[and] people who spoke about American decline could be revising their thesis."

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