HARVEY, La. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he supports a House Republican budget proposal, but adds that the spending cuts included in it should be accelerated.
Santorum says he would be more aggressive in achieving budget savings, including by doing away with cost-of-living increases in federal grants to states for Medicaid and food stamps.
He also said that while some of the deficit cutting measures proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin would be phased in, he believes they should be imposed more quickly.
The former Pennsylvania senator said he agreed with Ryan's proposal to provide a federal contribution to help older people buy their own health insurance, rather than obtaining it exclusively through Medicare.
Santorum commented in Louisiana, where he was campaigning for Saturday's GOP primary.
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