Gilbert Gutknecht: “I think that is the wonderful thing. It is not just about welfare reform. It is also about Medicare reform. In fact…”

“I think that is the wonderful thing. It is not just about welfare reform. It is also about Medicare reform. In fact, most Americans are not aware, again I am on the Committee on the Budget, the gentleman from Arizona is on the Committee on Ways and Means. Sometimes we risk sounding like accountants, but I think sometimes numbers do illustrate very powerful points. Something most Americans do not know and we need to remind them as often as we can, that 53 percent of the Federal budget is what we call entitlements; in other words, things that have to be paid, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, welfare. Those are the 4 largest entitlements, 53 percent. That had pretty much been put on autopilot. That happened in Congress back in about 1975. The important thing this Congress did when we came here is we said, 'We've got to get control of entitlements. Because if we don't control entitlements, they're going to eat us alive.' Entitlements were growing at something like 10 percent per year at a time inflation was only going up 3 percent.”