John Kerry

So it is all very simple. We will get there.

I think we have got to understand the relationship between those choices, that the actual tax expenditure itself post-1986 is substantially the same as the one we have today.

I think that would be disastrous. I think people would look at this country and say, you guys can't govern.

We have got to have real structural reform in health care.

Well, we know, for instance, there is one single famous building in the Cayman Islands which has maybe 35,000, 40,000 registered companies that are not companies at all.

I think the current system doesn't make any sense, to pay twice as much as any other developed country for health care and have our results rank somewhere between 25th and 50th.

What I am getting at is, can we create a system where you have two or three rates and you don't create a bubble?

What we are living with today is not effective or efficient.

I have been concerned for a long time about this issue of whether or not we inadvertently and in some cases maybe purposefully incentivize investment in other countries.

I second powerfully what Senator Portman said about our opportunity here... to try to get that sweet spot which he talked about.

I think that distinction will be very telling in a lot of ways.

There is a big distinction, is there not, almost obvious, Dr.

So that has had a beneficial effect in terms of restraining growth in Medicare--in Medicare cost?

So isn't it fair to say that, in fact, there is an aspect about our budget today that is starkly different?

Could you share with the committee whether we can strike the right balance and have a system that is globally competitive, but encourages job creation and investment in the United States?

80 percent of all of the money the Federal Government raises in taxes, 80 percent of it goes out right back into tax expenditures.

I hope we are not being a prisoner of the clock where if any member asks a question--I am here to learn.

I think that--are those worthy goals that we ought to be pursuing?

I had the pleasure of voting to get rid of the 70 percent and come down to--I think originally we chose two rates, as I recall it was 28 and 14 under the Reagan proposal.

I happen to agree with that judgment that you have made, and I think it is a very important one with respect to how we approach this.

Isn't it accurate that we have balanced the budget I think since World War II five times?

So what do we attribute that significant reduction in the Medicare cost growth rate?

Most people have accepted that we don't want to have major reductions to--we have reforms, yes.

Any real solution needs to be balanced with a mix of revenues and spending cuts and long-term reforms.

We all agree that we are facing an unsustainable financial future, and under the CBO's alternative fiscal scenario, the debt is going to reach 82 percent of GDP by 2021.