Senator Lamar Alexander made the following statement on the budget resolution released on Wednesday by the Senate Budget Committee, which would balance the federal budget over the next 10 years:
“This is a long-overdue starting point to adopt a budget to try to bring the federal debt under control.
“The federal debt is not the result of overspending on the military, highways, and cancer research. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, over the next 10 years this type of discretionary spending is expected to rise at about the rate of inflation. The debt is the result of overspending on out-of-control mandatory entitlement programs, primarily Medicare and Medicaid, which over the next 10 years is expected to rise by 84 percent, according to the CBO.
“During the Senate debate, I will do my best to refocus the budget on the right target—out-of-control entitlement spending—and encourage my colleagues to adopt legislation like the Fiscal Sustainability Act that Senator Corker and I introduced last Congress to reduce entitlement spending by nearly $1 trillion over 10 years.”