Christopher Shays: “Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is we are going to protect 100 percent of Social Security. We did that last year, the first…”

“Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is we are going to protect 100 percent of Social Security. We did that last year, the first time since 1960. We are doing it in this year's budget, and we are going to do it in next year's budget, the plan that we are bringing forward. We are strengthening Medicare and prescription drugs. We are setting aside $40 billion to implement our ultimate plan. It is no different than the motion to instruct the conferees. It is basically a blank paper. It sets aside money like we do. We retire the public debt by the year 2013, and we promote tax fairness for families, farmers, and seniors, and restore America's defense and strengthens support for education and science. Our GOP plan ends the marriage penalty. It is interesting, the Democrats voted for it, but I guess they do not want to cut taxes, but they voted for it. It repeals Social Security earnings test. They voted for it but say they do not want to set aside money for a tax cut. We reduced the death tax. They voted for that, many of them. We expand educational savings accounts. We increase health care deductibility. We provide tax breaks for poor communities. We strengthen private pension plans. What interests me, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) called this an irresponsible tax cut. It is interesting because, in the next 5 years, we have $10 trillion of revenue. We want a tax cut of $200 billion.”