Jeb Hensarling: “yet again we consider this historic piece of legislation, and it is historic because today we can begin the process of…”

“yet again we consider this historic piece of legislation, and it is historic because today we can begin the process of reforming out-of-control government spending. What happens if we listen to our Democrat friends who tell us we should fail to act? Retiring Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has said, ``As a Nation, we may have already made promises to coming generations of retirees that we will be unable to fulfill.'' That is the Democrat plan. The Brookings Institution has said expected growth on entitlement programs along with projected increases in interest on the debt and defense will absorb all of the government's currently projected revenues within 8 years, leaving nothing for any other program. No more veterans programs, no more Federal student loans, no more low-income housing programs. That is the Democrat plan. The General Accountability Office has said that without reforms that we are going to have to double taxes on the next generation just to balance the budget. That is the Democrat plan. Mr. Speaker, during this debate we are hearing a lot about budget cuts. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts. I looked up ``cut'' in the dictionary. It means to reduce. Yet, under this modest set of reforms, we see that Federal spending will grow at 4.3 percent a year. What we call entitlement spending will grow 6.3 percent a year. Medicaid will grow 7.5 percent a year.…”