Would think about what we are doing with our military . Soldiers want to serve in the military, et cetera. Guest first of all, in terms of our federal spending for national security, which is part of the constitution and thatction of our country, is probably about 15 , 12 to 15 of total spending. The total number of entitlements , in terms of Social Security, medicare, medicaid and paying the interest on public debt that has to be paid, we are talking about 70 . Theres a difference here. You could reduce defense spending. Its not something popular right now. The president has asked for an increase in defense spending as well as there seems to be consensus in the congress there should be an increase in defense spending relative to where we are today. Even though the uncertainties. Im not disagreeing with you or suggesting we shouldnt look for finding where there is waste abuse or whatever, unnecessary spending in defense and nondefense programs, but still, after said that having said th
Of factors involved in that. These are all projections. Generally because of the demographics and the changes in the way we are an aging population in the fact we pay a lot in terms ofs medicare and Social Security benefits will continue to grow. As a consequence along with paying the interest on accumulated debt itself means that we would be looking at the possibility of the debt to what we call debt to level of the government growing from where it is today which is at a historic high around 78 percent of gdp well up into the 100 a 150 percent over the next 30 t 40 years. 144 percent by 2049 or so. Right. Thats historically very high of course. We like to think that will not happen but if it should happen it certainly is something unprecedented in terms of the countrys history. If you had to make a list of the drivers of this debt what would you put on top of the list . I would say in the near term if the entitlement, the spending we have created for particularly dealing with the agin
Subcommittee on the constitution , a hearing on accountability with senator jim demint and a panel of experts. They discuss whether term limits would be effective in government. This is about one hour 40 minutes. [gavel bangs] sen. Cruz good afternoon. I apologize we are late. We will now begin the hearing. Let me begin by thanking you all for attending, and thanking senator hirono for working with me and my staff to convene this hearing and bring these witnesses together. The topic before us is one, i believe, of great importance the need for term limits for members of congress so that we can begin to fix what is broken here in washington politics. Before i introduce our first panel, i would like to explain why we organized todays hearing. In the 2016 election, the American People made a resounding call to drain the swamp that is modern washington. And, sadly, this is a bipartisan problem. The American People have lost confidence in washington, and especially in congress. And it is no
President or wherever books are sold. Back we are back with the president and we will talk about this years congressional pig. First, tell us what this is . Citizens against government waste was founded in 1984 with president reagan so weve been around a long time. Since then we have of course been investigating, researching, exposing and exposing government fraud and abuse and the rest around since 1991 and we have identified hundred 11,000, 114 earmarks with 314 billion dollars so when people say just a little here are a few thousand there but adds up and they are corrupting, costly and equitable and we could talk more about them but its one of the many publications that we put out each year, and certainly something weve been working on for a long time. Since we are talking about money, the viewers always have this question, so how does government waste get funded . We are funded by individuals and by associations and foundations so the vast majority of our money comes from individua
Wonderful to be back with the men and women of the faith and Freedom Coalition. By thepecially honored words that just preceded me. His onlyincoln said ambition in life was to be esteemed by people he esteemed. Would you join me in thanking ralph reed for his extraordinary leadership of this Great Coalition and this Movement Across america. [applause] vice pres. Pence ralph and i have known each other a long time. All the way back when we both had dark hair. [laughter] ralph knows me well enough to know that i am humbled by his words and the introduction i prefer is a little shorter. I am a christian, a conservative, and a republican in that order. It is my great honor to be with you. [applause] vice pres. Pence to be among so many people who make such a difference in pulpits around the land and in public service. I am also honored to be joined tonight by some of my real heroes. Lankfordtor james [applause] and to Eugene Scalia who was with us and the hundreds of members of faith who h