Richard B. Nugent: “This is actually talking about difficult questions we have to talk about. This body loves, if the problem isn't…”

“This is actually talking about difficult questions we have to talk about. This body loves, if the problem isn't immediate, we don't have to worry about it, don't worry about it because it will never happen; but we are being told by professionals: guess what, Medicare and Social Security are at risk if we do nothing. If we don't challenge the status quo, if we don't start talking about how do we move forward to protect our seniors today from cuts in Medicare and Social Security, how we move forward for our younger folks as they get closer to retirement age, we have to do more, and I believe this budget is creating a dialogue for us to move forward and do more, not just put our heads in the sand and say we just need to spend more money because we can tax our way out of it. Everybody knows that is not true. Madam Speaker, the first and most important job of our government is to provide for the defense of its citizens. If the government can't protect the people's liberty then everything else we talk about today--every dime spent on every domestic program-- is all moot. So when we're considering how taxpayer money should be spent, we ought to keep this at the forefront of our minds. We ought to put forward a budget that recognizes this basic truth and most fundamental responsibility. I'm glad to see that Chairman Ryan's budget embraces this fundamental priority because, Madam Speaker, not all the budgets we'll debate today share this perspective.…”