Kelly Ayotte: “I thank my colleague from South Dakota as well as my colleague from Alabama, the ranking member of the Budget Committee.…”

“I thank my colleague from South Dakota as well as my colleague from Alabama, the ranking member of the Budget Committee. I was deeply troubled this morning, because I asked Mr. Zients about the President's budget and my concern that under the trajectory of the President's budget we would be reaching $26 trillion of debt in the next 10 years, and I was shocked when he described the President's budget as a milestone, as leadership. This to me is not leadership. If it is a milestone for anything, this budget is a milestone for bankruptcy and what we see happening in Europe and other areas of the world that we don't want to happen to our country. When I think about it--I am the mother of two children--how could we possibly ask our children to pay back $26 trillion in debt? It is outrageous. I was surprised that Mr. Zients couldn't answer a basic question such as how much debt has been added under this President. As the Senator from South Dakota mentioned, it is close to $5 trillion in debt. Also our entitlement programs. I know my grandparents are relying on Medicare and Social Security. I asked Mr. Zients--the Medicare trustees have said that Medicare is going bankrupt in 2024. We know Medicare is a huge driver of our unsustainable debt and that if we don't act to preserve these programs, then the people who are relying on them are going to be put in a horrible position very soon--2024 is coming very quickly. I asked Mr.…”