[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2488]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ENTITLEMENT REFORM

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, in the coming days we will take up the 
Federal budget. While I am pleased to see the President's budget hold 
the line on discretionary spending, the Congress should also get 
serious about entitlement reform.
  The numbers speak for themselves, Mr. Speaker. Three entitlement 
programs alone, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, currently 
consume about 42 percent of the entire budget. If we add defense and 
homeland security, which most people would consider mandatory spending, 
along with all the other entitlements, we get 82 percent. Only 18 cents 
on the dollar really is discretionary.
  Mr. Speaker, entitlements are important programs, but they will 
benefit no one if they go bankrupt. And we are headed for a fiscal 
tsunami in this country. So as we begin the budget process, let us keep 
in mind that runaway discretionary spending is wrong, and we would do 
well to rein it in.
  But unsustainable entitlement spending is a greater problem that we 
should address as well for the sake of our children and grandchildren. 
Whether we like it or not, this is a very real problem. It is not going 
to go away.
  Doing nothing is simply not an option. In fact, doing nothing is the 
worst thing we can do.

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