On the recordFebruary 10, 2016
I want to thank my good friend from Arizona. When I start my townhall meetings, I always start with our fiscal situation because people ask me--and I imagine it is the same in your district--what is wrong with you people in Washington? Why can't you get along? What is all the bickering about? That slide is instructive because I explain to them that nearly 70 percent of the budget we don't discuss at all, and it keeps getting smaller--the things that they kind of associate with the Federal Government--because, in their minds, these other things, the things you talked about--Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, care for our veterans, the ACA--all just happens automatically, and they think about--oh, I don't know--the IRS, the Park Service, the military. I keep telling them that it gets smaller, and so we squabble more over this diminishing pie. I just need you to clarify something. So you say it is formula driven. That makes sense to you, and it makes sense to me.
