Mike Conaway: “I spent 2 years on the Budget Committee, and it was a very informative time. I sat through hours and hours of…”

“I spent 2 years on the Budget Committee, and it was a very informative time. I sat through hours and hours of conversation by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle touting the virtues of PAYGO and that they thought this would solve the problems of the world, knowing all along that their version of PAYGO that they talked about was, in fact, a stealth tax increase, given the current Code that we have in place with respect to the taxes on capital gains and dividends, as an example, and the death tax that will come back in full force in 2011 unless we actually do something to it. So as we consider this PAYGO concept, I would like for the American people to know that the devil is in the details, as with everything that we, in fact, do. When I campaigned, when most of my colleagues campaigned, none of us campaigned on increasing deficits. We all campaigned, on both sides of the aisle, on reduced spending, on smaller government, all those kinds of things that both sides are saying during this debate today. But I am not sure this PAYGO version will, in fact, do that.”