At the end of the day, conservatives are not going to walk away from the first chance since 1997 to pass mandatory savings,

You've got Washington picking winners and losers. And so, all of a sudden, decisions are being made on what helps politicians, not what helps the economy. Some will call it socialism. Some will call it a command and control economy. Whatever it is, it's antithetical to the American experience.

From the takeover of Detroit and the failed stimulus packages to the enactment of Obamacare, the president and congressional Democrats chose to use Americas economic crisis as an excuse to expand government rather than as an opportunity to responsibly shrink it.

What I'd like to do is be able to work with Democrats to reform current entitlement programs for future generations, grandfathering all the grandparents.

If you were approaching the TARP investments from a pure investment standpoint, then there's no doubt in my mind the taxpayer lost, and probably lost big.

[Even conservative lawmakers who are the staunchest opponents of earmarks -- and who now want to rescind some of those projects to pay for Katrina relief -- don't hesitate to go after the money in normal times.] Uncle Sam takes so much money away from my constituents that I'm happy to try to get some of it back, ... When someone comes to me and asks what I want in the highway bill, I don't mind telling you what projects are important to the 5th District of Texas.