Washington -- In a Senate floor speech Monday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said the federal discretionary budget "is not out of control despite what we hear on Fox News. Speaking against a GOP proposal Monday night to pay for a Hurricane Sandy relief package with a 1.5 percent across the board cut in federal spending over the next nine...
Washington -- In a Senate floor speech Monday, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said the federal discretionary budget "is not out of control despite what we hear on Fox News. Speaking against a GOP proposal Monday night to pay for a Hurricane Sandy relief package with a 1.5 percent across the board cut in federal spending over the next nine years, Landrieu said the proposal would kill the bill and set a bad precedent for future disasters.
Landrieu said it isn't discretionary spending that is causing huge deficits, but mandatory spending, which includes funding for Social Security and Medicare.
"It is mandatory spending that is rising rapidly because the 'greatest generation,' which gave us the greatest Nation the world has ever heard of, is aging, and they need hospice care, Social Security, and hospitals," Landrieu said. "If they want to cut them, go right ahead. I am going to be a little more gentle."
Landrieu prevailed. The amendment to pay for the Sandy disaster assistance with spending cuts was defeated 62-35.
Landrieu does have a point, though she no doubt regrets her comments.
According to the conservative Heritage Foundation, federal entitlements are driving most of the federal spending growth, having increased from less than half of total federal outlays just 20 years ago to nearly 62 percent in 2012. Three major programs--Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security--dominate in size and growth, soaking up about 44 percent of the budget.
But spending on non defense discretionary spending has also increased by 29 percent since 2002, according to the Heritage Foundation.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., delivers controversial remarks on federal discretionary spending.
Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Still, according to the Congressional Budget Office, federal outlays over the last three years grew at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower was president.
Landrieu has said that she's in favor of more spending cuts to help bring down the budget, but that it should be part of a balanced plan that also raises revenue from the wealthiest Americans. The proposal Monday to pay for $50 billion in Sandy aid with spending cuts, Landrieu said, would cut spending on important programs, but also set a precedent: The next time a disaster strikes victims will have to wait for Congress to agree on spending reductions to pay for emergency assistance - not a good position for a hurricane vulnerable state like Louisiana.
"We should not use disasters as an excuse to push ideology, and that is, I am afraid, what the other side is doing," Landrieu said. "They want to look for any excuse to cut the budget. I want to say again that we have already cut this budget by $1.5 trillion. And I want to say for the 11th, 12th, 13th time that we are never going to cut our way to a balanced budget."
Landrieu continued to criticize the GOP amendment, offered by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. "The Lee amendment would lay on another $6.3 billion cut in fiscal year 2013, including cuts in defense, veterans programs, homeland security programs, critical infrastructure programs that will generate job growth, cuts in small business programs, and even $250 million of cuts in the Hurricane Sandy response and rebuilding funding that is now before us," Landrieu said
On top of those cuts, the Lee amendment would require cutting another $44.9 billion by fiscal year 2021, Landrieu said.
Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., said that it is worthwhile to look for cuts to pay for new spending, even worthy spending like disaster assistance.
"I think it is also worthwhile to at least examine the possibility of paying for expenditures, particularly when we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar, when we are careening deeper into debt that the younger generations are not going to be able to pay off without serious adverse consequences," Coats said.