[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3746]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   WE MUST REDUCE GOVERNMENT SPENDING

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, some new statistics have just come out on 
government wages and salaries in this country. Government payouts, 
including Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance, make 
up more than one-third of total wages and salaries of the United States 
population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn't 
taken before the majority of baby boomers enter retirement.
  Social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this 
year. In the year 2000, that percent was 21 percent. In the year 1960, 
it was 10 percent. And these are statistics that came from the Bureau 
of Economic Analysis data.
  Recently, it was quoted that the U.S. economy has become alarmingly 
dependent on government stimulus itself. So, in this country, we have a 
stark choice: We have to reduce government spending. Otherwise, not 
only will we go bankrupt, but there will become a tipping point, a 
tipping point where the government payout for wages and salaries will 
become 50 percent of all U.S. wages. All of us should know what that 
means.

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