Senator Hutchison Discusses Entitlement Reform, Budget Negotiations & Debt Ceiling on Fox Business

Interview

If we don't deal with Medicare and Social Security as well as Medicaid, then we are never going to have a responsible approach to getting the debt down.

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison today talked with FOX Business about the reforms needed to save Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid as well as how spending cuts must be in place before raising the debt ceiling. Sen. Hutchison said that reforming Medicare and Social Security cannot be "dead' in Congress, considering that entitlement spending is driving our soaring deficit. She added that Congress needs to move forward on reforming entitlement programs without raising taxes, which would be detrimental to our fragile economy. Click here to watch the full interview. Below is the transcript of Sen. Hutchison's interview.

FOX Business Interview
May 26, 2011

Fox News Host: Joining us now with her take, Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas. Nearly everyone agrees Social Security and Medicare must be fixed to avoid insolvency at some future date, yet Washington can't agree on how to do it. Are we ever come to an agreement ever?

Sen. Hutchison: You know, I hope so and the key is going to be that it is bipartisan, that the president is at the table. I think it is stunning, truly, that none of the four budget plans that are on the table deal with Social Security. The only one that really deals with Medicare is now being sort of made a scapegoat, and I think if we don't deal with Medicare and Social Security as well as Medicaid, then we are never going to have a responsible approach to getting the debt down.

Fox News Host: You know Senator, Peter Barnes who we just had on, called the whole process after last night's vote "dead, dead, dead, dead" and you could throw in ten more deads out there. Is that where we stand now in regards to being able to fix these entitlements along with the budget plan, or do we put them on the back burner and work on this budget and find another way to fix these?

Sen. Hutchison: It can't be dead, dead, dead. I mean, I think we saw from the overhearing of the conversation between Paul Ryan and President Bill Clinton that everyone agrees it can't be dead and entitlements are the only true fix. I have been working on Social Security and looking at it. We could close the gap, the 75 year gap in Social Security and make it completely solvent by gradually increasing the age a little more in retirement, which I think most people agree is just common sense [considering] the way we live today, and the health that we have today. And then adjust the cost of living a little bit, one percent or less, and that would cover it. No new taxes, no new big benefit cuts. It's just a simple, I think, solution and no one is willing to touch it - except I am going to start going forward and talking about it.

Fox News Host: Well Senator, that being said, you're saying that no one is addressing Social Security and raising the age of these entitlements, I mean what are you hearing from colleagues in Washington? Everyone is talking about it, everybody says they're willing to do it, but it doesn't seem like anyone is willing to act on it. Maybe you?

Sen. Hutchison: I am , I am looking at a proposal now and one that we've gotten the numbers from the Social Security Administration that say it will close the gap. A number of my colleagues are very interested in it. Anyone is wary of going forward without some buy in from the President and from the Democrats, and the Democrats have said to me that they won't buy in unless you have an increase in the taxes. We don't need an increase in the taxes. I think that would hurt the economy, it would hurt the creation of jobs. I'm not going to be for something that increases taxes. But just adjusting the cost of living to keep the core benefits, but you adjust the cost of living so that it's just a little bit less and you raise the age up to 69 over a long period of time, above 2030, then you have a solution that people can say, "Ok, we can give a little on the age because it makes sense that we are living longer and working longer."

Fox News Host: What about on the short-term with us about hitting our ceiling? Where do you see that going, and what are some of the solutions that are being worked out so that we don't have our financial markets thrown up into a whole mess?

Sen. Hutchison: Well I think that there is a disconnect frankly between what the president is saying, as if it's going to be the earth falling if the debt limit is not raised, and yet not being able to come to the accommodations to make significant changes that would ease the opportunity for ever having to do this again, which none of us want. And secondly, I think it is very important that Republicans believe that we can set the priorities, we can spend the revenue that we have coming in to cover the interest so there would not be a default, and to cover the priorities in government until we have real reform that is going to show that we will not have to raise the debt ceiling in the future.

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