Hal Rogers: “This provision doesn't do anything. Nothing in the CR would cut Social Security or Medicare benefits, nor would it…”

“This provision doesn't do anything. Nothing in the CR would cut Social Security or Medicare benefits, nor would it privatize Social Security. We are totally committed in this bill to saving Social Security. Let me be honest. This is a procedural motion that is simply a fog screen, trying to hide us from our real task at hand, but I don't think we'll be fooled at that. The debate should not be about procedure or fog screens or things unrelated to the bill. It should be about doing our job. We are here this afternoon to provide the necessary resources to keep the government's doors open while we lock in important budget savings totaling $6 billion. That is $2 billion in spending reductions, or savings, to the taxpayer, $2 billion a week, the path this body has set with the passage of H.R. 1 a couple of weeks ago. I would also like to remind my colleagues that, with the passage of this CR today, we will have cut over $10 billion in the span of 2 weeks. That sets a record. That has never been done before in this body. The closest was 1995 at $9 billion. This is more than double the $4.7 billion that Senator Reid and the Senate Democrats proposed in their CR last week to fund the government for the remaining 6 months. We do in 2 weeks what they would take 6 months to do. The American people sent us here with a clear message last November. They want us to end the partisan bickering and get our work done.”