Christopher Shays: “I just wanted to come personally and thank my colleague for the extraordinary job he has done as the chairman of the…”

“I just wanted to come personally and thank my colleague for the extraordinary job he has done as the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, the chairman who has actually had to make cuts in budgets. We slowed the growth of Medicare and Medicaid but we still allow them to grow significantly. But you actually said, we are going to spend less dollars next year than the year we are in. And you are doing exactly what we intended to do. We wanted to get our financial house in order and balance our Federal budget. We want to save our trust funds for future generations. And most importantly, we want to transform this social and corporate welfare state, this caretaking society into a caring opportunity society. And I just wanted to thank you for the work you are doing and to celebrate the fact that it has been a long and arduous journey, but you have done it.”