Lloyd Bentsen: “The principle of a balanced budget is more than simply a numbers game in which spending and revenue match up. It…”

“The principle of a balanced budget is more than simply a numbers game in which spending and revenue match up. It reflects the sense that Members of Congress are controlling the budget, not being controlled by it. Now all these Members on the other side got up and said, we increase spending for this and we increase spending for that. And believe me, I am for most of the stuff that you got up and said. But the fact is you are acting like it is being done for free and it is balanced. But this is where it costs. We are having to borrow against the Social Security trust fund money. That is not free money. That money costs today about 6.5 percent over a 20-year period. That money costs. Who is going to pay that back? Well, not the taxpayers today, but the taxpayers 20 years from now and the taxpayers 30 years from now. I hope to be around doing that. I know the chairman hopes to be around. Our kids will be paying for that as well. That is the real macroeconomic picture of this budget.”