Mark Neumann: “this issue of whether or not we should pass the blue dog budget is really a very, very simple matter. When put into…”

“this issue of whether or not we should pass the blue dog budget is really a very, very simple matter. When put into perspective, under the blue dog budget the American people would pay $211 billion more in taxes as compared to the Republican plan that we are going to be voting on later on today. Second, the people in Washington, DC, will spend $74 billion more over the next 6 years than under the Republican plan that we will be voting on later on today. So it both taxes the American people more and it spends more, and our people in Wisconsin do not want to pay more taxes and they do not think the people in Washington, DC, need to spend more. But that is not the biggest problem with the blue dog budget. The biggest problem is its impact on the Social Security benefits paid to our senior citizens. And to all of the senior citizens listening here today, I would like to caution them about some Washington jargon that should be a red flag. It is called the CPI adjustment. Whenever anyone hears this Washington language, they need to know that what they are really talking about is reducing the amount of money that is available to be paid to our senior citizens in the future. Let me make this very, very simple. If the blue dog budget passes today, and the CPI, that is the cost of living adjustment, would be 3 percent, under the blue dog plan it would be reduced to 2.5 percent.”