If not by phone, you can weigh in on social media. You can also post a comment on facebook. Com cspan. The folks at the Pew Research Center have a report out with a inakdown the 3. 95 trillion federal spending. Social security makes up 24 of that spending. Medicare, 15 . Other types of health care, 50 . Income security, 13 . Veterans business benefit 5 . Education, 3 . National defense, they save 15 of the budget. Net interest, 6 . The headline to the piece says, what does the federal government spend your tax dollars on . Social Insurance Programs mostly. Paul ryan, the speaker of the house, boasted on a radio show about teh the future. Here is what he had to say. We will get to paul ryan in a seconds, but read a bit from the Weekly Standard first. He says that following the tax bill, ryan is not one to bask in the glow of past accomplishments. I asked about his priorities for 2018. He named three. Surprisingly, health care reform. I dont think the Health Care Issue is done, he said, including eight willingness to revisit obamacare. At the end of the day, we have to go against we have to go at the root cause. He noted the president has expressed interest in his ideas for what the programs and medicaid for welfare programs and medicare. Here is the speaker now. [video clip] talk about entitlement reform, it is clear one of the things you are talking about is obamacare. And welfare reform, we think it is important. System that isre trapping people in poverty, and we have got to work on that. Are you thinking about trying to do reforms with Social Security or medicare at this point . President trump has not seemed interested in those things. He has not shown as much interest. You cannot use budget reconciliation for Social Security. It is exempt from those rules. It is the healthcare entitlements that are the drivers of our debt. We spend more time on the healthcare entitlements. Host they talked about the president. The president sent out this tweet, i was the first and only potential gop candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, medicare, or medicaid. That is the president from 2016. He is that determined to press his case. We are never going to give up on entitlement reform and the things we need to do to get the debt under control. I think we have a pretty good shot at getting these things done. Before we go to the phones, Bernie Sanders had a little bit to say this week on the floor. He is Ranking Member on the budget committee, of course. He warned that republicans next year will return to title meant two entitlement spending. Mr. President [video clip] mr. President , this is not just Bernie Sanders speculating. This is what the New York Times said in an article a few as theo, and i quote, tax cut Legislation Passes Senate early sunday, republicans are preparing to use the swelling deficit made worse by the package as a rationale to pursue their longheld vision of undoing the entitlements of the new deal in society, leaving government leaner and the safety nets skimpier for millions of americans. Speaker paul ryan and other republicans are beginning to express their big dreams that next year, they will move on to changes in medicare and Social Security. Said last week, we are going to go into welfare reform. And of course, New York Times. Let me take this opportunity to translate into english what phrases like entitlement reform or welfare reform really mean. Reality arean in massive cuts to Social Security, education,edicaid, nutrition programs, affordable housing, and other programs desperately needed by a inclining middleclass. With that setup, the question goes to you. Which government benefit is most important to you. Helen is up first. Caller good morning, Merry Christmas. What really bothers me is they always talk about the middleclass getting a raise. You know what, sir . They told us we were going to twopointsomething race for our Social Security. I got a 2 raise, but they did not tell me that my premium went from 110 to 134. I was able to only get 10. Race. Ear, we got a measly i didnt get nothing. It cost me a dollar. I am so sick of these politicians talking about the middle class, the middleclass. They are people that need to get off their tin and get to work. It is like they are going to give people money for tax credits. Some of them dont even pay taxes. Host helen, is there one party or another that is better suited to handle it . Caller Congress Needs to revisit how they pay these Social Security recipients when they give us a raise. They base it on the price of oil, sir. My brother got a two dollar raise. That wont even pay for a gallon of gas, or a gallon of milk. Host thank you for calling. Pat is on the line from texas. Each government and if it is most important to you . Caller good morning, cspan and washington journal. Medicare and Social Security, but Social Security, one of the congressman last week was on morning joe and he is a conservative. He said Social Security is solvent until 2033. It has several trillion dollars in the trust fund, and he said that. What they are going to hit is medicare, because they can do it with reconciliation. I am sofor trump and aggravated at him i dont know what to do. I cant stand to watch them on tv now with this tax cut. They start hitting medicare and social programs, there is going to be a landslide. I have been a republican, but no more. The democrats will take the house and take the senate. They make me sick. This tax cut for the wealthy makes me sick. I am so aggravated, i dont know what to do. And i cant begin to believe what they are trying to do to the poor and the middle class. It is terrible. Host thank you for calling. Mike is calling from illinois. What would you like to say . Which government benefit is most important to you . Caller Social Security. When trump was campaigning, he was talking about closing loopholes. It is a big time job. It was just a tax cut for the wealthiest. Raiseee they need to Social Security and take the limits off the income for people paying into it. They want to give tax cuts i am a supporter of tax cuts for corporations that come here. But we did not close any loopholes in the reason we have jobs in this country is because we cannot compete with 25 cents an hour in china. I dont know did i lose you . Host we heard you, thanks for your input. A couple callers mentioning Social Security as the most important to them. The center for budget and policy priorities digs into that and other spending areas. Socialas details go, security last year, 24 of the budget, or 916 billion, paper Social Security. Paid for Social Security. Social security also provided benefits to 3 million spouses and children of retired workers, 6 million surviving spouses and children of deceased workers, and 10 million disabled workers in december 2016. Just some of the nuts and bolts of Social Security. We will walk through some of these others. Robert is on the line from arizona. Welcome,bert. Robert. Caller i am 85 years old and Social Security gave me a six dollar raise this time. [laughter] caller they took back most of it. Host what you make of that six dollar increase . Caller it isnt much. [laughter] caller it wont help me by a gallon of milk. Host do you have other sources of Retirement Income . Caller i have a pension plan for my union. I wasason i am calling is watching trump on television yesterday, and he mentioned this tax overhaul that he is instigating, but he never mentioned when it was going to start. Startwondering, does it january 1, february 1, or march 1 . Someone might possibly know. Host it is a lot now because he signed it is the law now because he signed it yesterday. It may take until february when people start to see the increases in their checks, but essentially it is happening right away. That was the design for it to take place in 2018. [video clip] here,s is a bill right and we are very proud of it. It is going to be a tremendous thing for the American People. It is going to be fantastic for the economy. It is going to Keep Companies from leaving our shores and opening up in other countries. They are very disincentivized. Not a lot of sense to do that. I dont think you will be running your company very well. What is happening is we are going to sign this. This is a little picture of it. It fits nicely in the box. I should take it out of the box because people should see it. Everything in here is really things for businesses, for people, for the middle class, the workers. Things for and i consider this very much a bill for the middle class and a bill for jobs. Through are produced companies and corporations, and you see that happening. Operations are literally going wild over this, so far beyond my expectations. I will sign this today as opposed to having a formal ceremony in two weeks when we were going to do it, because i did not want you folks to say i was not keeping my promise. I am signing it for christmas. I said the bill would be on my desk before christmas, and you are holding me literally to that. So we did a rush job today. It is not fancy, but it is the oval office. Host the headline in the Washington Post, president signs tax bill and begins his break. He headed the palm beach, florida and his estate there where he will spend the holidays. The polls have shown the bill is unpopular, but trump and Congressional Republicans have argued that americans will view it were favorably when they see savings in their paychecks. The wall street journal touches on the bill as well. Partisan vote on tax bill is a warning side. They write, if there are problems with the law, they are unlikely to have partners in democrats to fix it, in the same way republicans have stood against the Affordable Care act. The political backdrop is a warning sign. The new tax system encoded by republicans is fragile. There are many challenges on the horizon that will war it changing the law that will warrant changing the law. The potential for flaws in the law itself that might be gained by households or businesses, as has been the case with the aca. Addressing them will not be easy. Back to government benefits. Which benefit is most important to you . Ralph has been hanging on the line from new york. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. I have a quick suggestion for cspan. Eight while back, you did the top a while back, you did the top 10 Supreme Court justices. It would be good to do Social Security, the National Labor relations act and what it took to pass those bills, which party was in power. The most important Government Program is definitely Social Security. Host how come . Caller i believe the percentage, 36 of retired workers are on it and is their sole income. It is a vital Government Program. Host what do you think based on what you read and hear from folks in washington about the future of the program . Caller with the pay for those tax cuts, for the gop plan, they may try to move the age of to save money. Host what would you be most in favor of if a change had to be made . Caller people are living longer. They have got to raise the cap on it. 120,000 right now. They could raise that. Host rolfe mentioning the top 10 Supreme Court cases, preferring to our landmark cases. Ralph mentioned the top 10 Supreme Court cases, referring to our landmark cases. Thank you for that tip on another series we can do. Don is calling from load i, california. Good morning, what would you like to say . Caller the most important programs to meet our Social Security and that it care and medicare. I would like to tell our boys and girls in congress to keep their grubby hands off of it. They want to pay for this discretion oh tax cut to the discretional tax cut to the wealthy. Perhaps they should consider shutting down some of these bases we have all over the world that i cannot see how they benefit anyone in this country. It sucks the taxpayers dry. Host what has your experience been like with the Medicare Program and what can be fixed if anything . Caller i think it is a wonderful program. When i had a heart attack and was in the hospital, they paid for just about everything. Was so low, of cost it was wonderful. I cannot conceive of any other kind of system, especially that was that those elitist republicans would want wasted upon me hoisted upon me. The best piece of legislation that this country has ever produced. It kept me, my parents, my grandparents out of poverty. They are threatening it because they have always hated the concept. They want people to work until the day they die. That is what these people want because they are elitists. It is about time somebody said it the way it is. Host thank you for calling. More of the details on medicare, medicaid, chip, and subsidies. This comes from the center of budget and policy priorities. Medicare, medicaid, and the Childrens HealthInsurance Program, and the Affordable Health care market subsidies accounted or 24 of the budget 26 of the budget or 1 trillion. Several billion went to medicare, which provides health care to around 57 Million People. Medicaid,oes to fund chip, and aca subsidy and exchange cost. In 2016, 9 million of the 11 Million People enrolled in health external Health Insurance exchanges received subsidies at the cost of 31 billion. Mitch mcconnell was asked about possible welfare Entitlement Program changes and the coming year. This was a news come News Conference on the hill yesterday. [video clip] the president s, the speaker, and i will meet the first week of january to see what the top priority items are next year. Here is the observation about entitlement reform. I have been here a while. The only time we have been able to do that is on a bipartisan aces. On a bipartisan basis. It was a long time ago. It was Ronald Reagan and tip oneill. It has been a wild. It has been a while. Youtlements are such that almost have to have a bipartisan agreement to achieve a result. Needed. Desperately i have been talking about it for years. We had a missed opportunity during the Obama Administration to address the longterm unsustainability of some of our most popular programs, who currently do not meet the demographics of the country in the future. But it requires a bipartisan, sincere agreement to tackle it, and those pieces would have to be in place, i think, to be successful. Speaker, the president , and i are going to talk about this whole area in a couple weeks and we will have or to say about what the agenda is then. Senate majority leader on the hill yesterday before he left for his home state of kentucky. Which government benefit is most important to you . Viewers are responding this way. Congress needs to address medicare first. That is bleeding dollars. Also, vote blue. Stop taxing Social Security. It is particularly cruel to people who need it to live. Judy has been waiting from milwaukee. Which program is most important . Caller good morning. Social security. Host how come . What does it mean to you . Caller i am able to live, survive. Host is it your only form of income . Caller yes. What gets me mad is you work all of your life paying into Social Security and medicaid and medicare, and now they want to take it away . Let the rich pay for it. Host thanks, judy. Joseph on the line from eastern pa. Caller the last two people said everything. I cannot add anything more to program. Pt the drug they tried to get the government to control the prices, to get the prices down, but the republicans wouldnt do it. They would not let you go to canada to get the drugs cheaper. They have got us blocked everywhere. Another thing i just wanted to say, the way you have it set up, eastern, central, mountain and pacific. I wish you would have kept republican and democrat and see how many republicans calling in are complaining about Social Security and medicare. I wish you would do that instead. Thank you. Host thank you. Sylvia is an alexandria, virginia. Caller good morning. Thank you for this topic. I wanted to say, i am 64 years old. I am trying to last until i am 66, but i have an artificial hip and herniated discs. It is a struggle for me to get to 66. I think Social Security is very important, and so is medicare. My mother in law is on that. I want to point out something. I think paul ryan said something a week ago about how people need to have more children so we can support these programs. I dont remember ex