Gilbert Gutknecht: “I am one of those Members of the freshman class in the 104th Congress, and I do believe that 2 years ago the American…”

“I am one of those Members of the freshman class in the 104th Congress, and I do believe that 2 years ago the American people sent a very clear message and they sent 73 new Members to this Congress for a very important reason. In fact, I think there were three or four major things they wanted us to do. First of all, I think they wanted us to put the Federal Government on a diet. Second, I think they really wanted us to pass term limits. Third, I think they want commonsense regulatory reform. And finally, and perhaps most importantly, I think the American people want us to change the way Washington does business. Well, Madam Speaker, I think we have made real progress. As a matter of fact, we passed the balanced budget amendment out of this House. Unfortunately, it failed by one vote over in the Senate. We went on to pass the first balanced budget plan in over 25 years. We have eliminated over 270 programs and, as a matter of fact, we have saved the taxpayers, this Congress, over $43 billion. The budget is moving in the right direction, and we are moving towards balancing the people's books. On the very first day we began to change the way Washington does business, the way we work. We passed the Shays Act. We said that Congress is going to have to live by the same laws as everybody else. That was a very important change.”