Mark Kirk: “Mr. Chairman, I urge support for the Republican Consensus Budget Substitute. In sum, the consensus substitute saves $445…”

“Mr. Chairman, I urge support for the Republican Consensus Budget Substitute. In sum, the consensus substitute saves $445 billion to help protect Social Security and Medicare. This substitute includes 10 consensus principles that help restrain spending and make it difficult to create new government programs. It represents the work of the Conservative Republican Study Committee and the Moderate Republican Tuesday Group to put spending restraint as a core value of this Congress. We know that Medicare's unfunded liability is in the red $21 trillion. We know that Social Security's unfunded liability is in the red $10 trillion. In just 5 years, the first baby boomers will start collecting Social Security checks. The number of people collecting Social Security checks will then climb from 40 million Americans to 80 million Americans. To honor our commitment to Social Security and Medicare, we must restrain spending on other programs. Our substitute would cut the growth of other entitlement programs by $445 billion, saving that to meet our Social Security and Medicare commitments.”