John Campbell: “And if the lady will yield for one last parting comment, as you look at this chart, if you look at this chart, because…”

“And if the lady will yield for one last parting comment, as you look at this chart, if you look at this chart, because you will hear some people in the majority party talk about that the whole problem is the war in Iraq and it's defense spending. If you look at this chart over time, the width of this green defense bar doesn't change that much over time. Now, who knows what will happen, but projections are that defense spending as a percentage of the economy, which is historically not that high right now, but that it wouldn't change over time. The big problems, the ones that are small here and get really fat there, are if you take the two biggest. One is Medicare and the other is interest on the debt. Interest on the debt gets big because we keep throwing deficit after deficit after deficit. The way to get that down is simple: Balance the budget, stop running deficits. But we haven't, as I mentioned, except for 4 years, I think over the last 40-something, we haven't had the will here to do that. The other thing is Medicare. And what's so interesting is that that is government-paid-for medical insurance for older Americans, for seniors. But you have people out there now advocating that we should have Medicare for everyone, which you've got a problem with Medicare as it is, a huge problem in that it would almost take up all of your tax money by 2080, almost take up all your tax money all by itself. So, I thank the lady from Tennessee very much and yield back.”