Christopher Shays

Exactly. That was one. The other area was that we made health care fraud a Federal offense in terms of Medicare and Medicaid so that you would not have to find someone guilty because of wire or mail fraud but you could find them guilty for…

And they get a choice. They get to choose a plan that could be better or a number of plans that could be better and in the end if they did not like those plans they could go back to the traditional system.

But see, some people would call that a cut in the program. That is what is ludicrous about the description. If we save money in the program, therefore, do not have to spend as much because we eliminate an abuse like this, it is referred to…

To illustrate, we did not increase the copayment to the seniors or the deductible and we kept the premium the same, but what we allowed them is the opportunity to have what you and I have as Federal employees, we get choice in health care…

The difference is that when he refers to it, he calls it a savings. When he refers to ours, he calls it a cut. But before we leave Medicare, I do not want to leave it without just summarizing the fact that we allow Medicare to grow from…

This Republican majority is working to get our financial house in order and balance the Federal budget. We are looking to save our trust funds for future generations, and we are also looking to transform our caretaking social, corporate…

I was making reference to the fact as a moderate Republican I voted for a number of programs that I have had to look at and say in some ways what that has allowed me to do is it has allowed me to go back to some of my constituents and say…

I believe when you tell the American people the truth, they will have you do the right thing, and I feel very strongly that what this new Republican majority tried to do last year and what we are trying to do this year will make our…

If the gentleman would just allow me to make the point that entitlements are 50 percent of the budget, and when we add interest payments, we are talking about two-thirds of the budget and the discretionary is only one-third of the budget.

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…

This Republican majority is trying to get our financial house in order and balance the Federal budget. My colleague knows that just balancing the budget is not the end all and be all. It is just the logical realization that we would rather…

I remember being the chairman of the task force, on the Committee on the Budget, on Medicare and Medicaid, and I remember the fact that the gentleman was not going to vote for the plan unless we realized that urban areas were treated in a…

I really believe in the earned income tax credit, because this gets to the third effort. We are trying to balance the budget, get our financial house in order. The second thing is we are trying to save our trust funds for future…

Madam Chairman, this new Republican majority has three primary objectives: One is to balance our Federal budget and to get our financial house in order; the second is to save our trust funds for future generations; and the third, and that…

none of it was cutting defense. We were cutting discretionary domestic spending. We added back $11 billion; some of it went to defense, for very necessary things. In 1996, the President wanted to spend $7 billion more than 1995 in…

I would emphasize again that this is a freeze amendment. We are not advocating that the Department of Defense spend less than we spend this year next year. We are advocating that they have a freeze. I am a member of the Budget Committee…

I do not know how any opponent of this amendment can say with a straight face ``un-American'' or use the word ``world market'' and talk about ``consumer-oriented'' and talk about the free market. Give me a break. Un-American? Yes, it is…

No, I think the gentlewoman is talking for the farmer, because the consumer is getting screwed in this system. The consumer is getting screwed.

the bottom line is the price is double in this country what the world market price is.

No, no. We want to put a ceiling on that price, because by limiting supply, the supply may even go over $678. That is the irony. We talk about the manufacturer and we talk about the farmer. Who is talking for the consumer?

We are talking about writeoffs that businesses have been able to get over the last 40 years through, candidly, this former Congress. They have been able to get a significant writeoff, approved by, candidly, Republican presidents, so both…

So we have to get our financial house in order and balance that budget as the foundation. Not as the solution, but as the foundation for then saving our trust funds, which are obviously related to the first issue, but then, ultimately…

They can. And it is not like the telephone system, where if you were on AT&T and you automatically find you are with Sprint or MCI, no, you stay in the plan. You stay in the traditional fee-for-service. You have to ask to be out and then…

I do not know how we do that, though, unless we get our financial base on a firm foundation.

And encourage people to pay their taxes. It is estimated we could lose almost $100 billion in revenue, one, because it is not simple enough and, second, that people simply have found a whole host of ways to avoid paying taxes in the course…