Christopher Shays: “as we have developed this fiscal year 2005 budget resolution, I have listened carefully to my colleagues on both sides…”

“as we have developed this fiscal year 2005 budget resolution, I have listened carefully to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle. The one common theme for the many budget alternatives offered by the Congressional Black Caucus, the Blue Dogs, and the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on the Budget on behalf of the Democratic Caucus has been higher taxes and more spending. I have also heard too frequently that my side of the aisle is cutting spending for important programs, like education, veterans, and health care. The fact is when you look at Federal spending for the last few years, you will see few programs that have not received significant increases, in most cases very significant increases. Only in Washington do we call a spending increase a cut. I think our budget can be summed up in one word: responsible. We think it is responsible to control spending at a time of mounting budget deficits. By freezing nondefense, nonhomeland security spending for 1 year, we are taking a painful, but necessary, step towards fiscal responsibility. I strongly support many of these programs, but I also know being fiscally responsible requires tough choices, like we made in the late 1990s, including Members saying no to increases to many popular programs. We think it is responsible to not raise taxes during a period of economic recovery.”