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Mr. RIBBLE. 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? Well, it is just a meager $11.15 trillion over the next decade on Social Security alone.
So what does that do for these three programs? Three programs, Mr. Chairman, this is our austerity Kool-Aid: $19,481,692,000,000 on three programs, nearly $3 billion more than the accumulated national debt in the last two centuries. If this is leaving our seniors behind, if this is leaving the most fortunate behind, I don't even know what we can do to make it right other than this.
Mr. Chairman, I am proud of the budget you have put together, and you achieve balance, including meeting these demands for the least fortunate in our society.
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