Christopher Shays: “I would love to just illustrate, if the colleague would allow me, a real-life example of what the gentleman is talking…”

“I would love to just illustrate, if the colleague would allow me, a real-life example of what the gentleman is talking about with the growth of entitlements. Entitlements are 50 percent of the budget and doubling every 5 to 6 years, crowding out the discretionary part of the budget. I have had constituents who come and say, ``We need to spend more for this education program,'' or more for this child care program that comes out of the discretionary budget. I say, ``Yes, we do need to do that.'' Then they say, ``And, by the way, don't cut Medicare and Medicaid.'' I say, ``Well, I don't want to cut Medicare and Medicaid, but let me understand something. If we allow Medicare and Medicaid to continue to grow at 10 percent a year, how will we be able to do all those things you want?'' It is a concept of opportunity cost. If you spend your money here, you give up the opportunity to spend it here. If we can make savings in Medicare and Medicaid, allow it to grow much faster than any other part of the budget, we then have some resources to spend on some good programs that come out of what we call the appropriations side of the budget.”