Tom Rice: “I thank the gentleman for his remarks. Mr. Rokita, were you aware that by the year 2030, according to CBO's projections…”

“I thank the gentleman for his remarks. Mr. Rokita, were you aware that by the year 2030, according to CBO's projections, that our spending just on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and our interest, just those four things will take up the entire revenue of the United States Government, leaving nothing for other mandatory programs, like welfare, like unemployment, like food stamps, like all those things? It will also leave nothing for other discretionary spending like the FBI, like the Park Service, like border security, and like the CIA; but even more importantly, it will leave nothing for defense, nothing for the Army, the Navy, the Coast Guard, nothing to buy the first bullet. By 2030, just those four programs--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the interest on our debt--will take up every dime that the United States Government brings in if we don't change something. Now, the President's budget adds $2 trillion in taxes, but it adds even more than that in spending. What does he spend the money on? It is a lot of additional programs. He adds a little bit to defense, he adds a little bit across the board to other discretionary, but he throws in a lot of other programs--for example, his proposal to pay for community college, which is a nice idea, a wonderful idea--but the problem is that we can't pay for the promises we have made already. Mr. Speaker, shouldn't we, before we make new promises, find a way to pay for the promises that we have already made?…”