Christopher Shays: “Mr. Speaker, we have three primary objectives in our effort to get our financial house in order and balance the Federal…”

“Mr. Speaker, we have three primary objectives in our effort to get our financial house in order and balance the Federal budget and save our economy. Our first is, in fact, to get our financial house in order and balance our Federal budget. The next is to save our trust funds, particularly Medicare, from bankruptcy. The third is to transform what I would call our caretaking, social, corporate and farming welfare state into a caring opportunity society. It is probably that last one that ends up being the most controversial; but, clearly, the first is controversial as well, because you cannot separate the budget from politics and from priorities. The bottom line is that we have to set priorities. If we spend money here, we may not be able to spend money there. It is a concept of opportunity cost. We give up an opportunity when we decide to put our priorities here and our resources here. Our plan is designed to help Americans earn more so that they can keep more and so that they can do more.”