In this video, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) is referring to the accounting trick used by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) in his debt limit bill. You can read more about the Reid bill, and Republicans considering voting for it here. If the information I have is correct (and I cannot verify), the Senate will not produce a budget for an additional two years, if Reid’s bill is passed. I hope you will read it, and call Congress, especially if your Senator is on the list. Sorry, the video isn’t embedding correctly. See the transcript below, or view the video here.
Paul Ryan
Mr. Speaker, the American people of all the accounting tricks and budget gimmicks that go on in Washington. Let me explain that $1.3 Trillion of this does. It says, imagine that we are at war for 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, at surge levels. We assume we are going to be fighting this war with 10 more years ahead of us with 100,000 troops, but, oh wait, we will withdraw in 2014 – a Trillion dollars in saving! I’ve got a better idea. Let’s pass a bill to cover the moon with yogurt that will cost $5 trillion dollars today, and then let’s pass a bill the next day to cancel that bill. Let’s pass a bill the next day to cancel that bill and save $5 Trillion.
Wait, I’ve got a better idea. Our debt is $14 Trillion. Let’s come up with a new plan to spend $14 Trillion, then rescind it the next day, and we’ll save $14 Trillion. We’ve just saved $14 Trillion. This stuff is fiscal fantasy. You can’t make this stuff up Mr. Speaker. Suggesting that we are going to be in a war at these levels for 10 more years, when everybody knows we’ve already decided not to do that, does not get us $1.3 Trillion in spending cuts. Only in Washington can you add up math like that.
