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Legislative Update Week of September 22, 2003
If you can’t keep track of all these numbers, just remember that they’re all big, and they’re all bad, said U.S. Comptroller General David Walker in reference to the current United States budget shortfalls and how much every man, woman, and child would owe in order to bring the budget into balance. The comments from Walker, Comptroller and head of the General Accounting Office, came at a luncheon held at the National Press Club on Wednesday, September 17. Comptroller Walker opened his speech by saying that his concern about the budget picture comes from his roles as a citizen, taxpayer, father and grandfather. His comments were meant as a wake-up call: the American people need to know the truth, Walker said. He also stressed that while some of the public numbers were indeed bad, those numbers didn’t show the true picture because of the way current scorekeeping is conducted. But, he added later in response to a question, the American government was not guilty of Enron-type accounting. TSCL was present to hear the oration first hand because of our concern -- a concern shared by you, given the results of the recent TSCL survey -- that the budget shortfalls could have on Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid. Though it may be unpopular with some, Comptroller Walker said that the “deficits do matter,” and added that we can’t grow our way out of the deficit given the size of the shortfall. Tough choices have to be made, and “sooner, rather than later” because of the compounding effects. Mr. Walker did say that he believed some within government were taking heed, and mentioned President Bush as one of the glimmers of hope because he was beginning to look at the long-term outlook, rather than simply looking at usual 10-year budget plans. In speaking about Social Security, Mr. Walker said that Trust Fund solvency was not enough, that the program had to be reformed so as to become sustainable. Walker further said that the entitlement would have to be restructured in order to reach that sustainability. Continuing on the topic of Social Security, Comptroller Walker said that restructuring should be fairly easy: those who are soon to retire will be o.k., and younger generations discount the program as something they can’t relay upon anyway. However, Medicare and health care are more difficult programs to reform in order to reach that sustainability, according to Mr. Walker. TSCL gives Mr. Walker a great deal of credit for taking a courageous stance. We urge politicians on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue to follow suit and have the wherewithal to make good policy decisions, rather than doing what might be most politically expedient at the moment. September 2003 | ||||||||
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