Reid Ribble: “I thank the chairman for yielding. It has been quite an afternoon already: slash, cut, tone deaf, burn, plunder, shred…”

“I thank the chairman for yielding. It has been quite an afternoon already: slash, cut, tone deaf, burn, plunder, shred, eviscerate, end Medicare as we know it, balance the budget on the backs of our seniors, and then my favorite, austerity Kool-Aid. There has been enough hyperbole in this room today, I should have brought my boots. Let's talk about austerity. We talk a lot about the least fortunate about us, the concern for seniors and for veterans and the most needy. This is what the budget actually does. These are the real numbers. I have read the real budget--not somebody's report on the budget, but the real budget. This is what we do for veterans. We increase from $145 billion to $187 billion. That's a 20 percent increase, a 20 percent increase over a decade. That is a $1.675 trillion commitment to our veterans. Then I heard we are going to end Medicare as we know it. Well, $509 billion to $864 billion in Medicare over a decade, if this is austerity Kool-Aid, I don't know how you can define $6.656 trillion as austerity Kool-Aid. I have heard a lot of people say I'm concerned about my mom. My colleagues have said it on both sides of the aisle. I want you to know, moms, we have got your back to the tune of $6.656 trillion. We are here for you. Let's look at Social Security. We hear that Social Security is going to be in trouble. Well, this budget goes from $854 billion to $1.423 trillion. So what does that come out to?…”