Way to cut spending. The question is no longer whether sequestration should be replaced, but how. As every member of this Conference Committee knows, both the house and Senate Budget call for changes to the budget control act and replace sequestration in different wales. The house budget fully replaces the defense cut, lists the b. C. A. Cap, and pays for that by cutting from key domestic vements investments. The Senate Budget pays for that with an equal mix of spending cuts and revenue caused by wasteful tax loopholes that benefit the wealthiest americans and corporations. So getting a bipartisan deal to replace quest racial is going to require compromise. There is no way around it. I am going into this budget conference ready to agree to some tough spending cuts that unlike the quester sequester caps that disappear in 2022, will be locked into law. I know there are some republicans that would be interested in swapping some of the infish and damaging sequester cuts with programs that would save many multiples of cuts over the decades. Im ready to listen to their ideas. As long as they are fair for seen yoirs and their families, im ready to make some concessions to get a deal. Commowmies runs both ways. While we scour programs to find responsible savings, republicans are also going to work with us to scour the bloated tax code and close some wasteful tax loopholes and special interest subsidies. It is unfair and unacceptable to ask seniors and family to bear this burden alone. These are nothing more than wasteful spending. Im hopeful that we can Work Together to get that done, and get to a balanced deal. Sequestration is bad policy. Democrats and republicans have said its not sustainable. We need a bipartisan deal thats fair for the middle class. I know by definition, this requires each side to make changes they couldnt make on their own. I know we owe it to the American People to Work Together. I know there are democrats and republicans in this room and outside this room that agree. If there is one lesson to be learned in the past two weeks, it is this. The only way we can avoid gridlock and crisis, and the only way either side can get what they want is through compromise and bipartisanship. Thats what the American People are expecting and want from this conference, and i am looking forward to getting to work to do hat. We reconvene on november 10 at 10 a. M. With that, mr. Hamlin. You mr. Ryan. It is great to be on the same side of the disable as you. It was just the country has paid a steep price for those reckless actions. Stoord poors estimates the shutdown cost our economy 24 illion, and the Peterson Institute said bipartisanship has cost our country 900,000 jobs since the 2010 elections. I hope every member of this committee, democrats and republicans alike, will put away the threats of future shutdowns and default and focus our efforts to help our economy grow. The house and republican and Senate Democratic budgets before us represent very different visions for the future of the country. Were not going to be able to bridge all those differences, but i hope we can make some progress, and that will require tough compromises. It is also important to be honest with the public about the nature of our differences, because to govern is to choose, and our budgets reflect different choices. We need to reduce the longterm deficit in a balanced way. It provides for vital investments to ensure america remains the worlds economic powerhouse. We aloe indicate resources to allocate resources to put people to work, modernizing our bridges and our ports and other infrastructure that is the back bone of our commifment these used to be a bipartisan priority. Unfortunately, the republican budget assumes very big cuts in our transportation spending. In fact, it would practically eliminate the cost of new highway projects as soon as 2015. Our budget also invests in our nations most valuable resource, our kids, by boosting support for education, including an Early Education initiative. The republican budget in the house resulted in the cut of 20 below sequester levels to that part of the budget that funds education. These choices have real consequences. We also know that the deep, immediate sequester cuts are hurting our economy. The Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tells us to meet our defense and National Priorities will result in 800,000 fewer american jobs by this time next year. We all know there are smarter ays to reduce deaf to equal deficit reduction. In the house, many have offered to plan a quest sequester with balanced cuts to wasteful spending and cuts to unproductive special interest tax breaks. Unfortunately we have been denied an opportunity to vote often that plan. Finally, this committee should continue to work to shrink the debt. Over the last few years, we have cut the 10year deficit by over 2. 7 trillion, excluding the sequester. Threequarters of those savings come from budget cuts. One quarter from revenue. If you factor in the additional trillion dollars in savings resulting from slowerthanexpected Health Care Costs, which are due in part to changes in the Affordable Health care act, the revenue change is 41. Still, we can and should do more. There are dramatic differences between our budgets as to how we tackle the challenge. The depement budget adopts the balance approached recommended to every american by every bipartisan group. The republican plan from the house drops the tax rate for the very highest income earners by a full third, providing a windfall to the very top 1 . At the same time, undercuts other important priorities and commitments. Any agreement will require difficult compromises. And we should not start the negotiation by taking things off the table. Finally, mr. Chairman, i would like to mention one other National Priority that could both help get the economy moving, help reduce the deficit, and strengthen Social Security, and that would be to pass the comprehensive immigration bill in the house of representatives. That would accomplish a lot of the goals of this committee, and we simply need a vote to make it happen. So i hope we will look at all the possibilities before us for growing our economy and reducing our longterm deficit. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Next well here from the Ranking Member of the committee, senator essions. [inaudible] in this room are some of the most educated people in the benl and dealt, and i believe we can make some progress as this Committee Goes forward. The purpose of a budget is to develop a Financial Plan for the future of america. It is not easy, and our differences are real, and it is difficult to bridge them. But there are actions which we can take that we can agree on that would improve the financial standing of america and Economic Growth. So it is important that we work at it. I think the regular process of a budget Conference Committee is a positive development for sure. Our colleague, ron johnson, is a successful businessman. Hes correctly told us, if you want to develop a strategic plan, and we need to, the fiffers thing we have to do is get nn in contact with reality and to agree on the problem. We have ast five years had report this agenda, which has been the vision that governs america for the projected and predicted vigorous growth, lasting prosperity, has not worked. We have sign seen it play out. More spending, more taxes, more borrowing, more regulation, in all aspects of american lives have not added to the improvement of our economy. We have added 6. 9 trillion to the debt. Tax, spend, regulate, and debt, we believe, will never work. It can never be the foundation for lasting prosperity and growth. It is a plan guaranteed to failed. Takehome pay has fallen for the last five years. Median household many income is lower today than in 1996. We have the Lowest Labor Force Participation rate in 35 years. A small percentage of americans are working today than ain 35 years. We have 12 million more residents than in 2007 and too few workers. What we should do is create a growthoriented tax system that makes america more globally competitive. We need to eliminate unnecessary regulations, we need to produce more american energy, we need to ensure that trade is fair and our workers can fairly compete. We need to enforce an immigration policy that serves our national interests, and we need to reject large Government Programs that we can afford that kill jobs. We need to balance the budget. As congressman ron said, that in itself will be a strengthening factor for an commi committee thats uneasy today. These are common sense programs that will work. Knees ideas are consistent with the american ideals that have serve us so well over the centuries. The bebling control act reduced the growth rate and federal spending by 2. 1 trillion. That is an important first step. After this year we will see a 2. 5 increase in all the programs that that were affected by the budget control act. So this is a tough year. This is the year we will have the toughest time. After this, growth will occur in our discretionary accounts. Congress and the white house must keep their promises to the American People. If we violate the solemn promise contained in the budget control act and the plain law that it is, how can we expect the American People to believe this when we make new promises about what were going to do in the future. No honest evaluation of the nations finances can ignore the impact of the Affordable Care act. In my request, gao has concluded legislation is not paid for as promised and will likely add 6. 2 trillion to the debt over the 75year window. We need to shore up Social Security, not add another huge unfunded liability. , icare has a far worse debt adding 2 trillion in unfunded liabilities to the nation over this same period. Medicaid, the Free Health Program for our lowincome americans has no trust fund and is on a particularly unsustainable course. Outlays for this program will reach 4. 3 trillion over the next 10 years alone. The budget control act made spending progress, but leads our budget on a path to growth of 6. 2 over the next 10 years. As far as discretionary programs, many mandatory and welfare programs are left totally untouched. C. B. O. Told us this path is unsustainable. We are not on a sustainable path today. It will create trillion dollar deficits in 10 years. We will be back to a trillion dollar annual deficit within 10 years. Yet the budget would the Senate Budget would avoid reductions in d. C. A. It proposed to spend a trillion over the budget control act levels and raise taxes by a trillion. The truth is, we must recognize that the d. C. A. Is only the beginning. More will have to be done. We remain with it on an unsustainable course. But i think there is a different spirit today. I think we have the potential to recognize the differences we may have in vision and somehow we can make some steps that are good for america. Mr. Chairman, thank you and chairman murray for your leadership. Now with the Opening Statements of the chair, i intend on inforcing the fivemain oh, minute rule just to accommodate everybodys schedule here. It is what it is. [[laughter] ] we plan to proceed so hopefully some can stay while others go. With that i want to recognize the vice chair of the budget committee. Thank you, chairman ryan. Two weeks ago our nation surpassed 17 trillion in debt. Were on an unsustainable path thats threatening the nation and morting our childrens future. We must act with honest purpose. A lack to do this is immoral and irresponsible. At this point there is not much to be gained by who is to blame for this fiscal mess. What we should be concerned with is how to clean it up. I think there is a path to an agreement. Were blessed to live in the greatest country ever, a nation that has meant every single challenge. We havent done so, because we viewed those challenges at the as a zero sum game where one side wins and the other side loses. We have done so because leaders have worked together and found Common Ground and solutions that work. Our challenges are huge and they are growing. The federal government is smending over a trillion a year. We have had deficits at a trillion and a half dollars and continued with deficits of 100 billion. Unique in the history of the world. This in spite of the fact that the government took in more revenue last year than ever before. There is also more to this than numbers on a page. Today, more than 16 million americans, including 20 of all children, live in poverty. Nearly 50 million of our americans live on 23,000 a year or less. To make mearts worse, life has become too painful and expensive for almost everyone. Unprecedented labor force dropouts, ever increase increasing Health Care Costs all result until Many Americans struggling just to get by. Washington spends more and more and more and yet our problems get worse and worse and worse. Taking more out of the pockets of hard working americans will not help. It is a recipe for economic pain. How do we begin to make government more effective and accountable . There is no question we must protect the Vital Services the government provides. We want to save and secure critical programs for our seniors like medicare, Social Security, programs they paid into and expect to be there, but programs that according to independent actuaries will not have the resources to survive if they are not strengthened. We want to repair americas safety net so we can protect the most vulnerable among us in a fair and caring manner. We want to strengthen our nation a, the greatest in the world, remains strong and independent and free. We want to grow the economy so millions upon millions of our americans that are unemployed or underemployed can get back to work and support their families. So opportunity here and in the weeks to come is to identify the Common Ground for positive solutions. There may also be an opportunity to achieve consensus and savings on better government policy. Imagine the saflingse that might be had if we were serious about identifying real waste in government or fraud with every single american every day. Or abuse of systems meant to help. Or imagine reforms that contemplated on ending due politictive programs to do nothing to further their goals. Imagine those savings that get away from the we win, you lose mentality in america. A friend asked me the other day, what are you doing differently today than you were the other day . If you are not, why do you expect a different result . Lets imagine an agreement that will inspire the American People and begin to rebuild the trust so lacking now in all of us that we can actually meet the challenges before us. Lets not lose this opportunity. The status quo here in washington is not working. It is not working for millions of americans struggling just to make ends meet. Every day that we fail to act positively is a day filled with more debt and less security and less opportunity for the american speesm. I look forward to having all of us put aside our talking points, ignore the routine washington think of we win and you lose, and coming together to meet this challenge and meet it in a way that respects each other, respects our constituents, and the history of our great nation and the leaders who have come before. Thank you, mr. Sharme. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Ryan. The Government Shutdown has hurt our economy and slowed economic rowth. Congressman van hollen mentioned a couple of the headlines. The one that is particularly painful to me is entitled Consumer Confidence collapsed this month thanks congress. Grow wages, create good jobs, and help our people. We want to make sure that the middle class can stay on the rungs of the middleclass economic ladder and we want a policy to help those who are to there, get their there. I want to give three points. The tax code just turned 100 and it looks every day its age. It is a broken, in efficient mess. It is time to bring it into the 21st century. Im committed to tax reform. There are ripoffs and loopholes for us to close in the meantime without jeopardizing the goals of comprehensive tax reform. My hope is that this conference and put our feet in both camps, for tax reform and against tax ripoffs. A good place to start incentives that Push Companies to move jobs overseas. Second is medicare. The future for medicare is better care at lower cost. It is very different than 1965. Chronic disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems current government rules and practices impede our efforts to deliver to these seniors. We are working on a bipartisan proposal to address these issues. We look forward to working with the conference on these issues. There is a better way, colleagues. Fairness my view is there has to be parity between defense and nondefense. The rule of the whole sequestration debate the rules were that you are going to cut defense and nondefense equally. To change those rules in the middle of this debate would be a very substantial mistake. What we do with respect to defense, we need to make an equal commitment to health, education, infrastructure, and finance investment that will secure our future. Those three areas, taxes, medicare reforms, and budget fairness strike me as three areas where we can come together nd find Common Ground. I look forward to working with all of you. To change rules in the middle of this debate, i think would be a substantial debate, and it seems to me that w