Christopher Shays: “Whether it is a farmer that has to invest in new facilities or new equipment for their farming or a businessman in some…”

“Whether it is a farmer that has to invest in new facilities or new equipment for their farming or a businessman in some of the urban areas, or businesswoman in urban areas I represent, they look at the cost of money, and then they say ``If I build this new plant and equipment and hire these workers, will I get a return?'' The higher the interest rates, the less building of new plant and equipment you have and the purchase of new plant and equipment. I know we have about 4 minutes left before we conclude. I would just like to reiterate the fact that we are looking to balance our Federal budget and get our financial house in order. We are looking to save our trust funds, particularly Medicare, from insolvency and ultimate bankruptcy. And the third thing we are looking to do is to transform our care-taking social and corporate welfare state into a caring opportunity society. This is our objective. We are asking the President and hoping that he keeps his word to ultimately come in with a balanced budget, scored by the Congressional Budget Office, using real numbers.”