Jim Nussle: “Mr. Speaker, if it does not cut Social Security and if it does not cut veterans benefits and if it does not cut Medicare…”

“Mr. Speaker, if it does not cut Social Security and if it does not cut veterans benefits and if it does not cut Medicare and if it does not affect the taxes and if it does not affect any other sacred cow in the Federal Government, how is it an enforcement mechanism? Everybody is rushing down here and we are going to get a motion to recommit saying, ``Oh, don't worry about Social Security; don't worry about veterans benefits; don't worry about this. This really isn't as tough as everybody out there is saying it is.'' Then what does this do? I have been patient about this and I am not going to question anybody's motive. But if in fact this does not do any of those things which it is advertised to do, then we better send this back and find out what it does do, because if it does not do all of those things, then it does not work. And if it does not work, why are we passing it here today in a big rush to say, ``Yeah, we're tough on budgets and, yeah, we're going to balance it and, yeah, we're going to put some teeth into this process''? Come on. It is either going to be tough or it is not going to be tough. The groups out there that have studied this say it is pretty tough. Let us advertise it that way.”