David Thomas: “Mr. President, the freshman focus has been in here now for a couple of days, talking about the economy and talking about…”

“Mr. President, the freshman focus has been in here now for a couple of days, talking about the economy and talking about ways that we can strengthen American families, strengthen the economy, strengthen wages, strengthen jobs. The interesting part of it is that is what we have been talking about here for the last year. That is what we have been talking about when we talk about balancing the budget, when we talk about regulatory reform, when we talk about tax relief. Unfortunately, I think in our communications too often the perception is that we are talking about those things because they are what is in our mind--tax relief and balancing the budget. We really ought to be talking about the benefits of those things. That is why we are doing it. We are balancing the budget for a result, and one of the results, of course, is the fiscal and moral responsibility to pay for what we are using and not to put onto our children and grandchildren a $5 trillion debt, $260-billion-a-year interest payment, a lifetime interest payment for a youngster born today of $180,000. We really ought to be talking about that.”