Henry Waxman: “I want to point out as a public service that when we talk about the cost of Government, we are talking about the salary…”

“I want to point out as a public service that when we talk about the cost of Government, we are talking about the salary of the gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay] and the cost of his staff, but we are also talking about protecting our national defense and supporting the brave men and women who are on duty for that purpose; we are talking about the cost to pay for our Social Security system, which has done more to stop the poverty rates among the elderly than anything else, as well as with the Medicare Program. We are talking about the expenditures to protect the environment, help students go to college; all of the things that people would have to pay for on their own if they could afford it. If we did not have these Government services, a lot of people would not be able to afford it, and we would find that large numbers of people would be denied the benefits that they look to Government to provide.”