Tonight the Congress will renew our commitment to the principles of fiscal discipline and limited government that minted this majority.

If the government does not have a majority (in Congress), getting its tax objectives and other measures approved would not be so easy.

And conservatives know that if you reject these principles of limited government and urge others to reject them you can be my ally, you can be my friend but you cannot call yourself a conservative.

For more than forty years, the United States Congress has shamelessly used payroll taxes intended for Social Security to fund big government spending.

The Republican majority, left to its own devices from 1995 to 2000, was a party committed to limited government and restoring the balances of federalism with the states. Clearly, President Bush has had a different vision, and that vision has resulted in education and welfare policies that have increased the size and scope of government.

I think to the extent Republicans depart from the historic commitment, we do so at our peril.