Mr. President, The true greatness of our nation lies in the power and promise of the American dream.  Unfortunately for many individuals and families this dream has become a national nightmare.  

Without the clear priorities and accountability of a budget we continue to careen toward the economic cliff with our massive debt and trillion dollar deficits threatening the prosperity of Americans from every walk of life.  To put it simply, we must change course!

Restoring the American dream will require more than clever bumper-sticker slogans.  While optimism is an important part of the American dream, hope simply is not a strategy for the kind of course correction our country needs.

Doing nothing is no longer an option! – Although this President and this Congress have attempted, by not having a budget, to convince the American people that doing nothing is the only option.  

Ignoring our broken entitlement programs, maintaining our complex tax code, and pretending we don’t have a spending problem ensures that our economy will never truly recover and the American dream will not be restored.

The good news for Americans is that many of us do have solutions to confront and correct the country’s most pressing challenges.  In today’s debate and discussion the nation has seen that changing course and balancing our budget doesn’t take 30 years, nor does it require the kind of drastic cuts that could devastate America’s our most vulnerable citizens.

As we approach this debate I remind my colleagues of the old adage, “You can make excuses or you can make progress, but you cannot make both.” 

Given the gravity of our current situation we should also recognize that our present path is unsustainable.  A course correction is coming - the question we will be held accountable for is whether that correction comes by choice or as a consequence of making excuses and doing nothing.  

The Saving the American Dream plan, which I have proposed, puts us on a sustainable and affordable path toward economic growth.   It reforms our tax code to make paying taxes a simple, transparent, and equitable process that regular people can perform on their own. 

It empowers families to save – by making savings tax free, which in turn lowers
their tax burden in a way that helps them and our economy.  It establishes a single rate, eliminates the payroll tax, helping all Americans – especially those at the lowest income levels – and it abolishes the death tax permanently. 

Under this plan, Americans will no longer be forced to navigate the complex web of countless loopholes - for people who don’t need them, contained within a tax code longer than the works of Shakespeare. 

In addition to placing an enormous burden and creating immense uncertainty on our people, such a tax system hides the true size and cost of government.  This plan is simple and provides certainty for individuals and businesses.

Opponents of reform will play petty politics and prey on false fears about the government’s ability to help the helpless. They claim that any course correction in entitlement or social service spending will damage the social safety net. 

The truth is, doing nothing will absolutely and completely destroy the safety net.  If we do not change course the collapse of safety net services for our most vulnerable Americans is certain – and it is certain to hurt most those who have the least.

This plan saves Social Security by transitioning to a real insurance plan that provides income security for seniors and prevents sudden poverty as a result of unforeseen events. 

The affluent elderly, such as Warren Buffett, will see a decrease in benefits.  This plan allows people like Mr. Buffett to help in a way that is actually good for our economy and our job creators.

The Saving the American Dream plan also ends the government takeover of health care and puts dollars and decisions back into the hands of families and their doctors.  Just like school choice allows parents to make sure their kids don’t get stuck in a failing school system, this
plan ensures families don’t get stuck in a failing health care system.

And finally, this plan acknowledges that we have a spending problem and works to reduce the size of government, eliminate waste, lower the future burden on taxpayers, encourage productive economic activity, and enhance individual liberty and choice. 

It reins in spending by a total of $9.6 trillion over ten years when compared to President’s budget, and by $7.1 trillion against the CBO baseline.

Supporters of the status quo will have every excuse as to why this budget or that budget won’t work.  But now is the time to stop making excuses and start making progress.

Today, we will have a vote on 5 budget proposals, but it is only the beginning of the discussion.  I can say confidently that Republicans have done a tremendous amount of work to craft proposals that begin to change our course and move our country in the right direction.

The President’s budget reflects the status quo – do nothing, keep our complex tax code and broken entitlement programs, and ignore spending.

As for Senate Democrats, for three straight years, my friends across the aisle have refused to participate in this discussion except to criticize ideas they don’t like.

Leadership is what leadership does - and for the past 1,113 days our country has suffered from a lack of leadership.

I ask my colleagues, if you cannot vote for these budget plans today, will you at least do the right thing for the country, put aside election-year politics, show true leadership and work with us to explore and implement real solutions. 

We cannot stand by the status quo, we cannot decide by default to do nothing -  The American people expect more and deserve better.

We need every American to join us in finding the solutions that will enable us as a nation to change course. 

The Saving the American Dream plan is about empowering individuals to define their own dream and ensuring they have every opportunity to make it reality.

This is the greatest civilization the world has ever known, not because government made it great, but because Americans continually reject the status quo, chose to change course when needed, demand economic freedom while ensuring individual liberty and the right to pursue happiness.

This budget provides the clear priorities and accountability we must have to jump-start the economy, create real jobs, strengthen the safety net and restore the American Dream.