Mike Enzi: “last month I came to the floor to talk about the need to confront our country's surging deficits and debt. At the time…”

“last month I came to the floor to talk about the need to confront our country's surging deficits and debt. At the time, we had just considered a supplemental disaster appropriations bill that would spend billions of dollars beyond the statutory budget caps without any pretense of offsetting that spending, and I called for Congress to better budget for disasters. Now, prompted by reports issued last week by Social Security and Medicare trustees that show these programs remain on an unsustainable path, I again come to the floor to sound the alarm over our country's long-term fiscal health. With trillion-dollar annual deficits expected to return soon and our national debt now topping $22 trillion, we cannot afford to keep ignoring the warning signs that we are on a dangerous fiscal course. The trustees estimate that Social Security's combined trust funds will be insolvent by 2035. Sounds like way down the road? I don't think so. Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will become insolvent even sooner, by 2026. Over the next 75 years, Medicare's and Social Security's combined scheduled expenditures are projected to exceed their dedicated revenues by more than $59 trillion, or 35 percent, on a present-value basis. Within 10 years, Social Security and Medicare alone will account for more than half of all Federal noninterest spending. We are facing a strong demographic headwind. Let me say that again. We are facing a strong demographic headwind.…”