Paul Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to show my colleagues a couple of charts regarding the budget. Last year, the President gave us a budget which said, he wanted to take $52 billion out of the Social Security surplus to spend on other Federal Government programs. We countered with a different budget which said, put all of the Social Security surplus back into Social Security. At this time during this debate on this bill last year, we had so many Members of the other side coming to Congress on the floor saying, we are going to raid Social Security. The Republican budget will raid $13 billion from Social Security. The Republican budget will raid $18 billion, $24 billion, $17 billion from Social Security. Well, Mr. Chairman, here is what actually transpired last year. For the first time in 30 years, this Congress stopped the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund. So when we hear the rhetoric now that we will be raiding Social Security again, remember they said that last year and here is what happened. We raided nothing from Social Security. In fact, for the first time in my lifetime, for the first time in 30 years, this Congress in 1999 stopped raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. If we look at all past years dating back to 1969, the red ink, Congress, the President, both parties, I might add, dipped into the Social Security Trust Fund. Now, that is what we are offering the American people, an extension of this policy, of not raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich) and myself will be bringing legislation later this year to make sure that never again will Congress go back to the days of raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, that every dime we pay in Social Security taxes will actually go toward paying off our national debt and paying back the debt we owe to Social Security so Social Security can be a program that is solvent, not just for the current generation, but for the baby boomer generation and for their children. Many things have been talked about regarding what the Democratic plan has done for the Social Security solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund. The President gave us a plan. Well, here is exactly what the President and the Democratic budget does with the Social Security Trust Fund. It simply takes a credit card and increases the credit limit. What they are doing is putting $300 billion of IOUs into the Social Security Trust Fund. It is illusory. It creates the illusion that we are going to increase the solvency of Social Security; yet according to the GAO, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it does not put one more penny into the Social Security Trust Fund. It gives us the illusion that we are fixing Social Security when, in actuality, here is what they are doing. They are taking the U.S. Government credit card, they are taking the limit and they are adding to it. They are not changing the income to Social Security. They are simply saying, we are saving Social Security, extending solvency from the year 2034, crossing that out and making it solvent to the year 2050 by simply raising the credit limit on the Social Security credit card from $7.8 trillion to $28.6 trillion. No new income to Social Security, no changes in the Social Security program, just more IOUs into the Social Security Trust Fund, which gives the illusion of reform; but what in actuality it does is simply raise the credit limit to the Social Security credit card. It does nothing to reform Social Security. Lastly, Mr. Chairman, I think it is very important to note, what did the President propose this year? Last year the President said, take 38 percent out of the Social Security Trust Fund, or $52 billion to spend on other government programs. This year, the President said, he is in favor, he agrees with the Republican Congress that we will stop raiding Social Security; but in order for the President's budget to add up, in order for the President's budget to work, to stop him from actually raiding Social Security, he does this: he takes the estimated surplus; then he increases taxes by $96 billion; he increases user fees by $19 billion; he cuts Medicare, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospitals; he cuts Medicare by $18 billion; and he has fantom interest savings of another $17 billion; cuts to Medicare, tax increases by $60 billion to keep the President from raiding Social Security. If Congress, which it wisely will do, I believe, on a bipartisan basis, rejects these tax increases and Medicare cuts, then the President's budget will have raided Social Security by $60 billion. This is what we are dealing with. We are simply trying to take rhetoric and divide it with truth. The truth is, this Congress, for the first time in a generation, last year actually stopped the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund. The other side said that would not be possible; the other side said it was not happening, but it did happen. This budget attempts to do the same thing and move on to it, for once and for all, forever, stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, so that when one pays their Social Security taxes, it actually goes to Social Security. Pay off our national debt. This budget over the next 5 years alone pays off $1 trillion in national debt. If people are still paying their taxes after we stop the raid on Social Security, after we put money back into Medicare for prescription drugs and paid off our national debt, if they are still overpaying their taxes, the President is proposing to create 84 new government spending programs. We are saying no to that. We are saying give hard-working Americans, working families their money back, by making the Tax Code more fair and simpler if they still overpay their taxes. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague from Connecticut for yielding me the time. I would like to actually take a look at some of the numbers that the minority staff continues to bring on the floor of Congress. If you take a look at the numbers, they are trying to tell us that we are dipping into the Social Security surplus. Take a look at these numbers. These numbers they made up. These numbers they made up. These numbers right here, the costs of the Medicare plan, they do not even add up on their chart. If you look at this chart, in their report, I noticed they took a little bit out of this on the chart. They say, on this chart over here, that the figures in the year 2002 to 2005 are interpolated by the Democratic staff. In Webster's dictionary, interpolate, that means to alter by text, by insertion of a new matter deceptively or without authorization. They go on to say that the extrapolations for the second 5 years are made by the Democratic staff. Well, Mr. Chairman, if we take a look at these numbers, they are wrong. The numbers on the surplus are wrong. The numbers that they are making up are wrong. The numbers do not add up. It is an extrapolation. It is an interpolation, which the definition is simply stated here in Webster's Dictionary.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, yes, absolutely.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Yes. If we take a look at the chart that the minority staff has prepared, the footnote of these two quotes on this chart, the figures on this chart are interpolated by Democratic staff. They are extrapolations for the second 5 years made by the Democratic staff. If we look at the dictionary, interpolation means insert new or spurious matter in this manner, meaning insert, estimate or find an immediate term deceptively or without authorization. That is what we see here with these numbers. They do not even add up their totals. The numbers that they are taking from the Republican budget, if we look at the Republican budget, they are different numbers. This does not add up. Mr. Chairman, it is the same thing. Last year they said we were raiding Social Security. Guess what? We stopped the raid on the Social Security trust fund. Last year they said we were going to take $17 billion out of Social Security when we debated this bill last year. Guess what happened? For the first time in 30 years this Congress actually stopped the raid on Social Security and put 100 percent of the Social Security money back in the Social Security trust funds.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the fact that the gentleman has recognized that his numbers are interpolations; that his numbers are estimates. Our numbers add up. Our numbers on the 5-year spendup, our numbers on the tax relief, do add up. If we take a look at the gentleman's surplus numbers, taken out of our budget, they are lower numbers as well. They do not add up.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, yes, we do.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for yielding me this time. I would just like to bring us back down to earth and talk about what this budget achieves. This budget that we are talking about here protects 100 percent of the Social Security surplus; it strengthens Medicare with a prescription drug plan by setting aside $40 billion; it retires the public debt by the year 2013; it promotes tax fairness for families, farmers and seniors; it restores America's defense systems; and it strengthens our support for education and science. But what I would like to focus on today is Social Security. I think it is important to note where we have been on Social Security. Well, over the last 30 years, the Federal Government has been taking money out of the Social Security Trust Fund and spending it on other government programs. In fact, just last year alone, the President of the United States gave us a budget last year where he said, I want to take 62 percent of the Social Security Trust Fund and dedicate that to Social Security, but take 38 percent of the Social Security Trust Fund out of Social Security to spend on other government programs. Well, last year we said enough is enough. Mr. Chairman, 100 percent of Social Security should go to Social Security. So last year the President basically said, let us take $52 billion out of the Social Security Trust Fund, spend it on the creation of 120 other Federal Government programs. Well, if we take this year's budget and take last year's rhetoric, we can see the difference between the two parties. Last year's rhetoric was this: a number of Members from the Democratic side of the aisle said on the same day, the Republican budget already dips in to the Social Security Trust Fund by more than $18 billion. The Republican budget has already spent $13 billion of the Social Security Trust Fund. The Republican budget raids Social Security by $24 billion. Another Member on the next day said the Republican budget takes $17 billion out of the Social Security Trust Fund. All remarks last year by Members of the other side. Well, let us take a look at actually what happened. Last year, in 1999, guess what happens? We took zero money out of the Social Security Trust Fund. We locked away every penny of the Social Security Trust Fund. We are doing it again this year, and we are going to bring budget language to the floor that says never again will Congress go back to the days of raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. Mr. Chairman, if we look at the President's budget, if we take out his Medicare cuts, if we take out his tax increases, the President is sending us another budget that takes $60 billion out of the Social Security Trust Fund. Let us look at the facts. Let us not believe the hype. We have already stopped the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund, and we are going to continue to stop the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, the budget we are trying to accomplish here has six very simple principles. We have been talking about these six principles today, but I want to talk about the Social Security portion of our budget, the most important aspect of this budget. This budget with Social Security starts on the work we tried to accomplish last year. If Members recall last year, Mr. Chairman, the President sent us a budget that said he would take 38 percent of the Social Security surplus out of Social Security to spend on the creation of other government programs, 120 to be specific, and keep 62 percent of the Social Security surplus in Social Security. Last year we said, no, that is not enough. One hundred percent of Social Security should go to Social Security. We, in fact, did that. But last year during consideration of this budget resolution, many Members from the other side of the aisle were actually saying we were raiding Social Security, we were taking money out of Social Security. So what actually happened last year? We heard the rhetoric, and we are hearing it again today. Let us dispense with the rhetoric and look at the results. The results are that for the first time in a generation, this Congress actually stopped the raid on Social Security. If we look at the year 1999, last year, we stopped raiding Social Security. This year, in the year 2000, we stopped raiding Social Security. What we are trying to accomplish is to forever stop the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund with this budget, make sure that every penny of Social Security taxes actually go to Social Security. I am going to be bringing a piece of legislation to the floor later with the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich), the chairman of the Committee on the Budget, to pass a law to make sure that we never again go back to the days of raiding the Social Security Trust Fund and so that we take that money to pay back the debt we owe to Social Security and pay off the national public debt. If we take a look at the President's plan, the President tries to give the illusion that he is actually increasing the solvency of Social Security; but what the President's plan actually only does, and I would like to add the Spratt budget's plan as well, is take the Social Security government credit card and add more money to the credit card limit. They are putting more IOUs into the Social Security Trust Fund, not committing an additional penny to paying benefits to Social Security. But they are simply saying, put more IOUs, raise the credit card limit to Social Security and hope the problem goes away. Mr. Chairman, we need results. We need legislation that actually stops the raiding of Social Security. We need to pass this budget resolution.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the substitute.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to quickly reiterate and correct the math from the past speaker. If you look at the debt at the end of the 5-year window, the debt by the Republican budget resolution, the total debt subject to limit is actually lower than the debt in the Blue Dog budget, subject to limit, at the end of the 5 year window. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary Miller).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Knollenberg).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Chambliss), the vice chairman of the Committee on the Budget, a gentleman who has worked long and hard on agriculture issues.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 5 seconds to rebut. The difference between the Blue Dog budget and the Republican budget is that the Blue Dog budget cuts less taxes and spends more money. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Sununu).

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), the vice chairman of the Joint Economic Committee on which I serve. The purpose of this Humphrey-Hawkins debate here is to talk about the law and how it relates to the Federal Government; and for educational purposes, the Humphrey-Hawkins law is the law that governs the Federal Reserve. We are here to talk about how these laws impact our economy. The chairman of the Federal Reserve, in multiple testimony to Congress in both the House and the Senate, has said, and this is a quote from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, January 26, 2000, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee. Chairman Greenspan said, My first priority would be to allow as much of the surplus to flow through and into a reduction of the debt to the public. If that proves politically unfeasible, I would opt for cutting taxes, and under no conditions do I see any room in the longer term outlook for major changes in expenditures. Let us review what we are trying to accomplish in this budget. What we have accomplished just in the last few years alone is an unprecedented level of debt reduction, following Chairman Greenspan's advice. In 1998 we paid $51 billion off on the Federal debt. In 1999, $88 billion paid toward reducing the Federal debt. In the year 2000, this year alone, we are dedicating $163 billion toward reducing the national debt held by the public; and next year as we project, we will be dedicating $170 billion to reducing the public debt, for a grand total of paying off the Federal debt held by the public to zero in 12 years. Mr. Chairman, this budget we are considering before us today is the most sweeping document this body has ever agreed to in a generation. We, for the first time in a generation, are stopping the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich) and I plan to bring legislation to the floor of Congress which says no longer can Congress ever go back to the days of dipping into the Social Security Trust Fund. We are going to use those surpluses to pay off the debt held by the public. In the first 5 years alone in this budget, we will pay off $1 trillion of debt. We will bring our public debt from $3.5 trillion down to $2.4 trillion in the next 5 years alone. This is what fiscal responsibility is all about. This is what we are achieving in this budget resolution we are having here. This is what Chairman Alan Greenspan is telling us to do. Remember what he said after we get the debt paid off. He said, after you pay off the public debt, reduce taxes. Under no conditions spend more money. So here is what we are doing. The priorities of this budget are basically this: first, stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. Second, pay off the national debt. And as we pay off the national debt, if taxpayers are still overpaying their taxes, give them their money back, rather than spend it on new programs in Washington. That is the division here. What are we trying to do by giving people their money back after paying off the debt, after stopping the raid on Social Security? We are doing this: we are ending the marriage tax penalty so that those who are married do not have to pay taxes just for being married. We are repealing the Social Security earnings limit so seniors who want to go back into the workforce are not penalized by losing some of their Social Security benefit simply for trying to supplement their insurance income. We are reducing the death tax, so that small business owners, family farmers, can pass their businesses, their farms on to the next generation without the Government taking it away from them. We are expanding educational savings accounts so parents can pay for sending their children to schools, to private schools, to public schools, to college, to vocational technical colleges. We are increasing health care deductibility for the self-employed. For people who, if they do not get health insurance from their job, we are saying, you should be able to write your premiums off of your income taxes just like any other corporation can do. We are providing tax breaks for poor communities to revive those urban, inner-city areas that are in despair that need a help on that rung of the economic ladder where they are at the bottom. We are trying to strengthen pension plans so that workers who are changing jobs in a rapidly changing economy can bring their pensions with them as they change those jobs without fear of tax taking away their pensions, without fear of losing some of their pension when they change their jobs. This is the priority spelled out in this budget. Mr. Chairman, the responsible budget is the Republican budget and a budget that pays off debt and lets people keep more of their own hard working money in the Republican budget.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kasich), the chairman of the Committee on the Budget.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I want to applaud the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) on putting together a budget, but I want to talk about what the base budget does, the goals we are accomplishing here. First, we are protecting 100 percent of the Social Security surplus. We protected Social Security last year, we are going to do it again, and we are going to do it ad infinitum. We are strengthening Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit to it; $40 billion to Medicare. We are retiring the entire public debt by the year 2013. We are promoting tax fairness for families, farmers and seniors. We are restoring America's defense capabilities. And we are strengthening support for education and science. But I want to talk about Social Security. What are we doing on Social Security? Well, last year the President said on Social Security, let us take 38 percent out of the trust fund and spend it on other government programs and dedicate just 62 percent to Social Security. That was not good enough. And we countered last year by saying lock away 100 percent of Social Security funds for Social Security. Guess what? That is what we achieved this year. This Congress achieved the stop on the raid of the Social Security Trust Fund for the first time in 30 years. That is what we are accomplishing here. The reforms in the underlying bill, in the budget resolution on Social Security are real reforms. The reforms in the Spratt budget on Social Security, and on Medicare, for that matter, are phony reforms. They are simply nothing more than adding more paper IOUs to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. It is kind of like having a credit card, but our income does not change. We do not get more money on our FICA taxes, we do not get more money on our paycheck; but our credit card limit goes up. That is what the Spratt budget does for Social Security. It simply says increase the limit on the credit card, but do not increase the income to the beneficiary. It does not add one extra penny to Social Security or Medicare. It just transfers IOUs to the two programs to give us the illusion that we are reforming Social Security and Medicare. It lulls us into thinking we are actually making a difference in Social Security and Medicare. My fear is that it will delay the important reforms to Social Security and Medicare that we so dearly need. Mr. Chairman, the underlying budget, the Republican budget resolution, is the serious plan. It is the plan that locks away Social Security for now and future generations. It is the plan that pays off the entire national public debt in 13 years, a trillion over the next 5 years. It is the plan that lets people continue to keep more of their hard-earned money if they still overpay their taxes. It is a plan that fixes our problems in education and science. It is the plan that puts money back into our vital national defense interests. It is the plan for America's future for the 21st century.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I appreciate the gentleman's comments on reducing the public debt. I am a new Member of Congress. When I ran for Congress last year, I asked people what they wanted to see Congress do above all else? They said balance the budget, pay off our debt and stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. For many years, this institution has been taking money out of the Social Security Trust Fund and spending it on other government programs. Both parties can be to blame for this. Over the last 30 years, we have taken over $800 billion out of Social Security to spend in other government programs that have nothing to do with Social Security. When you are working hard, paycheck to paycheck, seeing those FICA taxes coming out of your paycheck, just remember for the last 30 years a lot of that money has been going to spend on other things other than Medicare and Social Security. For the first time in 30 years, last year, this Congress actually stopped the raid on Social Security. One thing that I want to talk about is the fact that, and as my colleague from New Hampshire pointed out, Congress has been doing this for so long. Last year, 1999, that was the first year that Congress actually passed a budget that did not take any money out of Social Security and they put that money back into Social Security and into paying off our national debt. This year, Congress has stopped the raid on Social Security. It is putting that money back into the Social Security Trust Fund and paying off the national debt with that money. What we will be trying to achieve with this new budget that we are passing are four key objectives: First, continue to stop the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund. Second, pay down our national debt. Third, modernize our Medicare programs so that Medicare, which is a law written in 1965, actually corresponds with the year 2000 health care. Where I come from, in the State of Wisconsin, we can do a lot better in Medicare. Some States get great Medicare rates, and I am happy for those States, but not all states, and especially Wisconsin. So we are going to fix the problems we have with Medicare. Fourth, if people are still overpaying their taxes, give them their money back. What we are going to be hearing tomorrow on the floor as we debate these budgets is basically a key debate over these priorities. I think it goes very much to the point of a difference in philosophy that exists between the two parties and between the budget objectives we are going to be hearing debated tomorrow. I think the philosophy was really portrayed quite well by President Clinton a year ago when he was addressing an audience in Buffalo, New York. Last year, there was about 35,000 people he was speaking to in Buffalo, New York. He said, with respect to all of the government surpluses, which are people overpaying their income taxes and people overpaying their Social Security taxes, he said, and I quote, ``We could give you your money back, but we wouldn't be sure that you would spend it right.'' Well, therein lies the difference in philosophy. Your money is spent correctly so long as we decide how to spend it. That is the difference in philosophy we have. The President last year gave us a budget that said, let us continue raiding Social Security, as this chart next to me says, let us take 38 percent out of the Social Security Trust Fund to spend on the creation of 120 brand new Federal government programs. There is not enough money coming into Washington that we can ever send money back to the people. We countered with a different proposal, we said, for once, we have to stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund and put 100 percent of the Social Security surplus back into Social Security. We have got to get a handle on paying off our national debt. We have been doing that, $450 billion over the last 4 years under this new majority's leadership. We have been paying off on the national debt. If people are still overpaying their taxes, after we have stopped the raid on Social Security, after we have our debt going down to where, if our plan is enacted, we will pay off the public debt entirely within 12 years, as fast as we can do it, and if people are still overpaying their taxes, give them their money back by making the Tax Code simpler, by making the Tax Code fairer. How are we trying to accomplish this? After stopping the raid on Social Security, after paying off our public debt, we are eliminating the Marriage Tax Penalty; we are eliminating the tax on the earnings limit for Social Security; we are making the Tax Code fairer. We are trying to tell working Americans that their work will pay off; that when they work more and they provide more for their family and they overpay their taxes, we will want them to keep some of their own money. We want them to have more of their own paycheck, because there is a limit to how much Washington will take out of their paycheck. That is a clear philosophical difference between the President's vision and the congressional majority's vision. Nowhere can this be more clear than taking a look at the family's budget, taking a look at how much money the government has been taking out of their paycheck. For years, we have been raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. For years, we have been piling on the mountain of debt that is facing our children. Now, we are finally getting a handle on these core challenges, giving families more of their own money after they overpay their taxes, paying off our national debt, completely paying off our public debt in 12 years. And for once, if an individual pays their Social Security taxes, it is actually going to go to Social Security and not to other government programs. There is another issue I want to talk about, and I know the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Fletcher) is going to be joining us shortly on this, and that is Medicare. The President has proposed some changes to Medicare lately, and I think those are worth talking about. This budget we are going to be talking about tomorrow proposes some changes to Medicare as well. There are big differences between what the President is proposing in Medicare and what this Congress is proposing in Medicare. If my colleagues recall, last November we passed a Medicare bill which put $15 billion back into the Medicare trust fund, back into the Medicare network, because we noticed, after countless town hall meetings, after countless tours of the hospitals, of the skilled nursing facilities, of the home health agencies, we noticed that Medicare was suffering and we had to fix some problems in the Medicare network. So we put $15 billion back into the Medicare situation to help those States that were hit the hardest, States like Kentucky, States like Georgia, States like Wisconsin. Well, this year the President, who signed that law in November said, sorry, let us cut that money back out. Let us actually cut Medicare by $16 billion this year to the same accounts, to the same people: the skilled nursing facilities, the home health agencies, the hospitals, the Medicare patients and the Medicare Plus Choice plan itself; the same people we just helped in November he wants to cut right now. On top of that, the President has a prescription drug plan, a prescription drug plan which does not means test, which pays for Ross Perot's prescription drugs and a prescription drug plan which puts the government at the nucleus of the pharmaceutical industries. Basically, the Federal Government telling doctors what they can and cannot prescribe to their patients. Well, I hope that my family, my mother, my stepfather who are on Medicare right now, if they are in trouble, if they have some health problems on Medicare, I want to make sure that their doctor has the freedom to prescribe whatever he or she thinks is best for them, not what a government bureaucrat says is best for them. So as we reform Medicare, as we are proposing to do with this budget, we must reform it by making sure that the doctor has the choice of what to prescribe to our parents, what to prescribe to our Medicare patients. We have to make sure that when we add prescription drugs to Medicare, we do it in a way that makes sure that we do not eliminate all of the research and development that is currently being invested in our pharmaceutical industries; make sure that the doctor chooses the drugs, make sure that the centerpiece of our Medicare universe is the patient, not the government. Well, the President has a different vision: cut Medicare further, raise taxes, raise premiums on beneficiaries, and have a prescription drug plan which does not take care of catastrophic problems and gives drugs to everyone, regardless of one's income, whether one is a multimillionaire or a billionaire. Now, these are just different principles, different philosophies. But the budget that we are trying to pass tomorrow is the vision we have for the country, which is to take care and address the challenges we have facing us; namely, a national debt that we have to deal with. We have, for the last 4 years, begun to pay that off; $450 billion, as my colleague from New Hampshire just mentioned. Tomorrow we are going to bring a budget to the floor that makes that look like small potatoes. We are going to bring a budget to the floor that over the next 5 years pays $1 trillion off of our national debt. Tomorrow, we are going to bring a budget to the floor that completely stops the raid on Social Security, that calls for the passage of legislation which I am actually a coauthor of, Social Security lockbox legislation which says no longer, never again can the Congress and the President go back to the days of raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. We believe that we have to say that there is an end to the days of raiding Social Security, so we are going to back it up with a law that prohibits the Federal Government from going back and dipping into that Social Security Trust Fund. Then, if one continues to overpay one's taxes, as people are going to be doing, as we see this money coming into Washington, because the President wants to create new government spending programs. Specifically, in this year's budget, he called for creating over 80 new Federal Government spending programs from income tax overpayments. We are saying no to that, yes to paying off debt, yes to stopping the raid on Social Security, and yes to letting people keep their money if they still overpay their taxes by making our Tax Code much fairer, much more simpler. With that, I would like to have a dialogue with my friend, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Fletcher). I know he has been such a champion on health care issues. I appreciate the gentleman's participation in this debate. He has done so much on the Committee on the Budget for Medicare. I applaud him for the measurements he has passed, for the leadership and insight he has given us on Medicare. I know the gentleman wants to talk about the Medicare reforms.

Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I think he just hit the nail right on the head, and that is priorities. It is very important that people who look at these budgets see that it is a series of priorities, what we are trying to achieve in this budget. We hear all the time: I did not think the Republicans ever wanted to put more money into government programs than the Democrats. We hear that kind of thing all the time. It is all about priorities. The priorities we believe so fundamentally in is the proper role of the Federal Government, and one of the most important and proper roles of the Federal Government is in the funding of basic research, basic research to improve the health and welfare of our people. One of the things that we have to tackle is all of these diseases that are plaguing our society. Heart disease is something that affects my own family. My father passed away by a heart attack, so did my grandfather. Personally I very much would like to see a breakthrough in heart disease research. Cancer is something that has hit our families. I know it has for so many people. We are getting close to breakthroughs in cancer research. These are important things the Federal Government can do to improve the lives of millions of Americans. Alzheimer's, all of these things are hard commitments that the Republican Party has made. More importantly, it is not about Republicans or Democrats, it is about doing what is right. The budget that we are bringing to the floor tomorrow is a continuation on the priorities that we have established here in Congress with these budgets: funding basic research to try and find breakthrough cures for cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, diabetes, stopping the raid on the Social Security Trust Fund so that when one pays their Social Security taxes, it actually goes back to Social Security. We have priorities such as fixing our Medicare program, making sure that Medicare is corresponding with the year 2000 medicine, paying off our national debt, paying off our public debt in 12 years' time, a trillion dollars over the next 5 years. If people still overpay their taxes after we reach these priorities, we are going to give them their money back by making the Tax Code fairer and simpler. That is basically the priorities that we are seeking to establish with this budget. The President has vastly different priorities: raiding Social Security, increasing debt, less of a commitment to health research, and new Federal Government programs, 80 new programs this year alone that he is calling for.