Mark Neumann: “this is a very important concept here, and the gentleman understands just how concerned I am with the Federal deficit. I…”

“this is a very important concept here, and the gentleman understands just how concerned I am with the Federal deficit. I know, from serving with the gentleman on the Budget Committee, he understands just how strongly I feel about things that come to this floor being deficit neutral. We spent an extensive amount of time and developed this language in consultation with the Committee on Ways and Means and CBO to make sure that at the end of the 5-year window, which is the normal window used out here, that we would in fact be at least neutral in terms of cost to the Federal Government, so that we do not have a bill on the floor that would make the deficit worse. I think it is very important to understand that as people make the move from welfare to work, there are some initial up-front costs in the program but that we benefit down the road, as those people accept their normal role in society and become productive parts of the society, earning a living, paying taxes, doing all the rest of the things. So it is clear that there are some costs in the beginning but we do have the language in the bill that makes it neutral over the 5-year window.”