this doesn't touch social security and medicare, but you can't do that for the federal budget without affecting social security. >> for sure. their budget cuts are so severe that the only way you could hit their targets and not hit social security and medicare hard would be, you know, you basically are dismantling things from protecting the food supply to protecting the borders to, you know, running veterans hospitals, air traffic control and the like. moreover, you know, lawrence, as you know, we do have a long-term fiscal shortfall in social security we have to close, and we need to do it through kind of a mix of revenue and other changes, benefit changes. under their proposal you have to do 100% of the social security solvency through benefit cuts because you wouldn't be allowed effectively to do any tax measures. >> bob greene stein, president of the center on public and private policies. thank you for joining me