Congressman Pat Tiberi

In the coming days, Congress will begin to debate our version of the fiscal year 2008 Budget. As a new member of the Budget Committee, in the minority, I know that Democrats will control much of what is presented. But, it is my hope that they will work with Republicans to craft a fiscally responsible and accountable budget. The biggest threat to the health of our economy isn't earmarks, but exponential entitlement spending.

Entitlements are federal programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid that give money according to a specific formula to certain groups of people. The government is mandated to pay for these programs.

Right now, account for more than half our budget. These are important programs that provide a critical safety net for Americans, but with more and more people retiring the costs of entitlements keep rising. In fact, right now, the costs are increasing at twice the rate of inflation. If left unchecked, the price of these programs will equal our entire current federal budget by 2040.

Since paying for these programs is mandated, taxes would have to double in order to provide these benefits! Without entitlement reform and responsible spending, the economy can not sustain entitlements at the current level.

The longer we wait to try and tackle entitlement reform, the more difficult it will be. We need to start reining in excessive spending now, with this budget. Even raising taxes won't create a permanent solution to the entitlement funding problem. Costs go up every year and that will sink us right back into a budget deficit. In addition, with more money taken out of the pocket of consumers, our economy may slow. Instead, the problem needs to be solved through entitlement reform and the way to do that begins with the budget process.

The Medicare reforms in the president's budget were a step in the right direction. We must use the budget process to promote these reforms so we can ensure that benefits like social security, Medicare, and other entitlements are still available for our children. We can make these programs better, more efficient, and sustainable for the long-term.

When the budget comes to the Floor, I hope it will be one that will not raise taxes in order to encourage growth, and will limit extraneous spending. These things are necessary for the health of our economy and to ensure the sustainability of our entitlement programs.