Judd Gregg: “The $15 billion in Medicare savings is a nice number. The only problem is, it is coupled with about $30 billion of new…”

“The $15 billion in Medicare savings is a nice number. The only problem is, it is coupled with about $30 billion of new spending in the SCHIP program and, as a result, it is a net loss. So the long-term savings are not there. In fact, they are a long-term cost. Of course, the health care proposals, if they score, that would be great, but they don't score. So when you throw out a number of $81 billion, you are throwing out a number that CBO won't support. If it did support it, we would immediately capture those funds and use them constructively to reduce the deficit or to give people a tax benefit. As a practical matter, they don't score so the number is not relevant. I want to speak quickly to the Senator's response to my motion. My motion says: These tax reductions which are very important, which address issues which are important to the American people and which are not covered by the proposal which we have before us, unfortunately, need to be continued.”