Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told Newsmax on Friday that Congress must deal with "mandatory spending" items like Medicare and Social Security to get a handle on the nation's deficit.
"While it's fine to go ahead and attack discretionary spending, until we get a handle of mandatory spending, we're not going to be able to do anything out of this deficit," Murphy said during "The Chris Salcedo Show." "There's no way we'll grow out of this deficit."
Murphy said that while Congress is eyeing cuts to discretionary spending and programs, it amounts to only around 30% of the total budget, with another 30% going to defense and 30% going to mandatory spending programs like Medicare and Social Security that have fewer people paying into them than beneficiaries taking money out.
He said that as baby boomers enroll in these programs at a rate of around 10,000 enrollees per day, there are fewer and fewer workers paying into the system.
Efforts to reign in spending and keep the government open after Sunday by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., failed in the House on Friday by a vote of 232-198, making a shutdown starting Sunday imminent.
Murphy said congressional Republicans are not trying to side with Democrats or support their spending policies, but just want to keep government open.
"[They are] just trying to keep the government going without collapsing," he said. "Think about the military not being paid. Think about all these folks that are not being paid. I think these folks are conservatives. They just want to keep the ball moving."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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