John Cornyn: “last year, Congress made some real progress in getting a handle on mandatory spending by passing the Deficit Reduction…”

“last year, Congress made some real progress in getting a handle on mandatory spending by passing the Deficit Reduction Act. The Deficit Reduction Act will reduce mandatory spending by nearly $100 billion over the next decade, and it is the first time Congress has taken a hard look at how to find savings and reduce the budget deficit on the mandatory spending side since 1997. The Deficit Reduction Act is a good first step. My amendment builds on the savings of the Deficit Reduction Act. My amendment lowers the Federal budget deficit, lowers the Federal debt, and does not increase taxes on the American people. Today, the Federal budget, as we all know, is heavily weighted in favor of mandatory spending--entitlement spending, so to speak. As people live longer and the baby boom generation retires, that spending will increase and eat up a larger and larger share of our budget. Just in Medicare and Medicaid alone, in the last 5 years, we have seen a 22-percent increase in entitlement spending for those two programs. And if we don't do something in the next 30 years about entitlement spending, we won't have a dime of revenue to pay for other items that are important, such as defense, education, NIH research, and payments to health care providers to reimbursement under Medicare and Medicaid. My amendment directs the Senate Finance Committee to find $10 billion in additional savings over the next 5 years.…”