John Kerry: “as we approach the budget debate this year, I think it is important for us to take a moment ahead of time to think about…”

“as we approach the budget debate this year, I think it is important for us to take a moment ahead of time to think about the broad outline of what we spend money on and also what we do not spend money on--how we allocate the priorities of this budget-- because the budget is, after all, the most concrete, clearest expression of the priorities and intentions of the Congress. I would like to walk through that for a moment, if I can, and then make a proposal to my colleagues, which I hope might, in the context of this year's surplus and the choices we face, be attractive. The reality is, of the $1.8 trillion we will spend this year, the largest single expense, as we all know, goes to Social Security. The Federal Government is going to spend $400 billion or 22 percent of the Federal budget on monthly retirement and disability payments for about 45 million Americans who are either senior citizens or disabled. The second largest commitment will be made to Medicare, nearly $220 billion or 12 percent of the Federal budget, ensuring that virtually every individual over the age of 65 receives health insurance benefits covering hospitalization, physician services, home health care, limited nursing home care, and laboratory tests, and providing health benefits to roughly 5 million disabled people. In those two expenditures alone, we have spent a little over one-third of our budget on Social Security and Medicare.…”