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spending on Medicare will go from $4,800 per person to $7,100 per person, he said. Without cuts in the rate of increase in Medicare spending the system will “go bankrupt,” Rep. Wolf said. “This should have been done in the 80s,” he added. “Every administration and every' Congress has put this off. We are committed to deal with this now.” He said with the tax increases and spending cuts now in the Republican budget plan the Medicare fund will be “sound through 2012.”
He said the economy is already benefiting from the expectation that legislation to balance the Federal budget in seven years will pass. Once it actually becomes law', he expects more benefit including reduced interest rates. “This is the time to do it for future generations and for this generation,” he said. He noted that currently 16 percent of the budget goes to service the debt. Without the movement for a balanced budget, defense, debt service and entitlements would take up the entire budget in a few years, he said.
Rep. Wolf said there are signs the economy is currently weakening, and passage of the plan to balance the budget in seven years will be the stimulus the economy needs.
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