Christopher Shays: “Well, when I was in the statehouse, I was always amazed that our Federal leaders could continually spend more money than…”

“Well, when I was in the statehouse, I was always amazed that our Federal leaders could continually spend more money than they raised in revenues and their incredible reluctance to do it. I kept asking myself how could it happen, and I think that we have to acknowledge that the blame was bipartisan and also shared with Congress and the White House as well. I think it is fair to say that some on our side of the aisle, the Republican side of the aisle, did not see a defense program they did not like and were quite willing to keep spending. And on the other side of the aisle, there was no concern to control the gigantic growth of entitlements. I notice that my colleague may have a pie chart that illustrates that 50 percent or more now of all that we spend are entitlements. Before referring to the chart, I would just like to talk about what that means. It means that half of our budget we do not even vote on each and every year. It is one reason why Congress was simply not getting a handle on that budget and the White House. Almost 50 percent of the budget was on automatic pilot.”