Sen. Burr: Big Changes Needed to Cut US Debt

Changes in federal entitlement spending are critical to reducing the country’s massive debt, Sen. Richard Burr says. According to the Statesville Record & Landmark, the Republican senator from North Carolina told a local Rotary Club that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid account for 57 percent of the federal budget.

Burr told the group that elected leaders need to explain to the American people that reforming these programs is essential to growing businesses and creating jobs in the future.

“We have to be bold enough to reform Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security,” he said. “If we do it right, there won’t be anybody in America that won’t feel the effects.”

Burr also warned of rising fuel costs.

“Every cent gas goes up takes $1.7 billion out of our economy,” he said.

He advocated for the expansion of nuclear energy and the lifting of the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.