Sen. David Perdue: Social Security and Medicare Have to Be Saved

WASHINGTON, March 15 -- The office of Sen. David Perdue, R-Georgia, issued the following news release:

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- Highlights Trump Administration's Efforts To Address Mandatory Spending, Debt Crisis

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U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA), a member of the Senate Budget Committee, calls out the $22 trillion debt crisis and asks his Senate colleagues to get serious about saving the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, which are projected to soon become insolvent. The Senator also discussed President Trump's FY20 budget proposal with Russ Vought, Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Click here (https://youtu.be/JItb8pP-kJQ) to watch.

On the Economy & Debt Crisis

Senator Perdue: "Let's just talk about the reality here, instead of the emotion... We know what doesn't work, because we had eight years of the lowest economic output in U.S. history before 2016. We added more debt as a government than all prior presidents before. We doubled the debt in eight years. Now, we want to hide behind the fact that the tax bill made our corporations more competitive with the rest of the world, and we created more than 5 million jobs over the last two years."

Acting OMB Director Vought: "Contrary to fearful predictions before passage of historic tax reform, revenues are increasing and are in line with 50-year historic averages. The problem is not that Americans are taxed too little, it is that Washington spends too much."

On Social Security & Medicare

Senator Perdue: "Right now, Social Security is bankrupt...Medicare goes to zero in eight short years. These programs have to be saved...Both sides have solutions, and there are compromises that could get done. We know the problem over the next 20 years is all in mandatory spending. At that point, I'd like to see people on both sides of the aisle explain to their constituents why the federal government can't pay out the benefits they've been promising them for the last 100 years."

Acting OMB Director Vought: "This budget proposes more mandatory spending savings than any president's proposed budget in U.S. history, other than the first two budgets of President Trump's administration... President Trump's Medicare reforms push out the expiration date of the Medicare trust fund by eight years."