As Indiana's governor, I balanced eight budgets, never raised taxes, and left the largest surplus in state history. It wasn't always easy. Cuts had to be made and some initiatives deferred. Occasionally I had to say 'no.'
Since 2001, I've done what every elected official should be doing in government right now. My staff and I took a look at the books, thought outside the box and proposed reforms.
I have learned, if you give a team a budget, then the team tries to maximise the budget so that they get the same next year.
I know I've saved the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Never base your budget requests on realistic assumptions, as this could lead to a decrease in your funding.
A budget in difficult times can and must serve the people for whom it is designed.
At a time of tight budgets, unless something is really broken and not working, they [his congressional colleagues] just don't get excited about it.
From day one, my focus as a new-breed appropriator was to look for areas where we could save taxpayer dollars.
You know, it doesn't take a genius in the private sector to know that you can save literally hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending if you can make it more responsive. That's the main job.
I don't know if there's ever been a budget that anyone has been 100 percent happy with.
Putting together a sustainable budget requires that we all work together, that we focus our scarce resources on key priorities, and that we strengthen our capacity to deliver the best product we can for the American people. And that takes money.
It is time to cut out the mountains of waste and inefficiency and duplication in the federal government.
I am proud of my record as Colorado's State Treasurer. I have protected the taxpayer's money and grown the value of the state's investments in a very challenging economy.
To simply argue that public spending must always go up and never be cut is irresponsible.
In a budget this massive, there are certainly areas where I think we could do much better.
That's a good feeling, to save your clients two billion dollars.
