Conrad: Budget Proposal Is A Good Start, But More Focus On Entitlement Programs Needed

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, said Monday that President Obama’s budget is a good first-year plan, but that further savings in Social Security and other entitlement programs are needed.

The president’s focus on energy, education and infrastructure is critical, Conrad said, but the savings in the budget come mostly from non-security discretionary spending, which make up 12 percent of spending this year.

Conrad said that the U.S. needs a plan that focuses on entitlement programs and tax reform. The president created a fiscal commission last year, which Conrad was a part of, to address those problems. Its final proposal didn’t get enough votes from commission members to be handed to Congress.

“What is needed is bipartisan recognition that we must face up to budget realities, and that compromise is essential to the financial security of our country,” Conrad said in a statement. “Both sides have to be willing to move off their fixed positions and find common ground.”