Political Quotes

“What I wanted to point out is in this chart. It gives some indication of how we are operating in the Senate and the Congress, driven in substantial part by the President's desires. It is a chart showing the growth in certain programs that are exempt from the automatic cuts that would occur if a budget agreement is not reached as part of the legislation we just passed. These are all programs that we like and wish we could continue to allow to grow every year. Unfortunately, we are not going to have the money to do that. We are going to have to deal with these programs and all spending--Defense and non-Defense programs, no doubt about it. We have first over here the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund. The average annual percentage increase of that fund's cost has been 4.9 percent. The average annual increase in that fund each year-- 2005 through 2010--was 4.9 percent. The average inflation rate during this time was 2.5 percent. So that is about twice the inflation rate. The next fund here--a fund all of us value--is the Military Retirement Fund. It has increased at the average annual rate of 5.4 percent. Inflation is 2.5. Medicaid--a program that is administered by States but has recently been as much as 66 percent funded by the Federal Government--has been increasing at 8.5 percent each year. I think most of us know the rule of seven, where if you have money in the bank and it draws 7 percent interest, that money will double in 10 years.…”