March 14, 2013

March 14, 2013 -- Speaking at a Budget Committee markup of the FY2014 House Budget, Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) clarifies for the Ranking Member, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) that using the same proposed tax increase to justify billions in new spending is not responsible budgeting. In response to a Democratic amendment, Campbell also notes that the House Budget proposal does not impact Social Security spending in any way, shape, or form. Full transcript of Rep. Campbell's Remarks: "I appreciate the amendment from the gentleman from Rhode Island. But, our budget does not touch Social Security. It leaves it exactly as it is. So, I appreciate you don't want private accounts in there. Private accounts aren't in there. We are not raising the retirement age to 95 either. We're not cutting it in half. There are a hundred thousand things we're not doing to Social Security in this budget because we're not changing it whatsoever." "Now, it is in a deficit. It is going to get worse. We will have to, at some point, deal with it. That's a conversation we're going to have on what's the best way to fix and reform Social Security in other words to ensure its long-term health and stability. But, that conversation is not part of this budget. We are leaving Social Security alone." "One other thing I wanted to mention for the Ranking Member and others, in case this is my last chance to mention something. Last year in this markup, my friends on the other side of the aisle used -- what do you call it here? Eliminating tax subsidies for major integrated oil companies, egregious special appreciation for corporate jets...all that kind of stuff. You used those same tax increases nine times. So, you used them to pay them for nine different spending bills in the last markup we had. You're only at eight so far in this markup. So, if you can get one or two more in, you can use the same dollar of taxes to pay for ten dollars of spending this year because last year you only did nine." http://www.campbell.house.gov http://www.facebook.com/JohnCampbell @RepJohnCampbell