ms. schwartz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i look forward to this hearing, not because it will be easy or because it's new, but because it's the reality of what our nation is facing and demands our attention. i did want to say that ranking member ben holland is at the white house. he apologizes to dr. elmendorf for not being here. user can of course that the vice president and the white house and the senate on the republican on the issue of the debt ceiling, which i know we may talk some more about and see if we can't come to some agreement about a balanced approach of spending cut and revenue increases to be able to move forward. we'll see. but i appreciate the opportunity to make a few comments about where we stand at what we hear today about how we move forward. for me to make it and if you know i've been on the budget committee for some time. the federal budget is a statement of as a nation. it's about three things. it's fiscally responsible and reducing debt, meeting obligations to our seniors and making target investment

ms. schwartz. >> thank you, mr. chairman.ook forward to this hearing, not because will be easy or because it's new, but because it's the reality of what our nation is facing and demands our attention. i did want to say that ranking member ben holland is at the white house. he apologizes to dr. elmendorf for not being here. user can of course that the vice president and the white house and the senate on the republican on the issue of the debt ceiling, which i know we may talk some more about and see if we can't come to some agreement about a balanced approach of spending cut an revenue increases to be able to move forward. we'll see. but i appreciate the opportunity to make a few comments about where we stand at what we hear today about how we move forward. for me to make it and if you know i've been on the budget committee for some time. the federal budget is a statement of as a nation. it's about three things. it's fiscally responsible and reducing debt, meeting obligations to our seniors and making target investments to gro

ms. schwartz? >> let me take a different approach on medicare. one is we are concerned about the long-term fiscal health of medicare. it's one of the reasons we passed a law last year to use basically every idea that exists for containing costs and ensuring quality and access for seniors. you've looked at some of those and acknowledge they do good to quantify all the cost savings that exist and acknowledge the cost savings and i think both you and the medicare trustees talked about at a minimum it is going to save money over the long run in the affordable care act and it does extend the fiscal health of the trust fund for a number of years, and that is i could do better than that, much of the work that's being done and the payment of a free system reform to reduce the duplication and waste as well as coordinate care and improve the efficiencies in the health care system. so it's not just about the future service reimbursement. it's changing the way we do this so the debate doesn't become house simply how much do we reimburse doctors particularly

ms. schwartz. >> thank you, mr. chairman. not because it will be easy or because it's new, but because it's the reality of what our nation is facing and demands our attention. i did want to say that ranking member ben holland is at the white house. he apologizes to dr. elmendorf for not being here. user can of course that the vice president and the white house and the senate on the republican on the issue of the debt ceiling, which i know we may talk some more about and see if we can't come to some agreement about a balanced approach of spending cut and revenue increases to be able to move forward. we'll see. but i appreciate the opportunity to make a few comments about where we stand at what we hear today about how we move forward. for me to make it and if you know i've been on the budget committee for some time. the federal budget is a statement of as a nation. it's about three things. it's fiscally responsible and reducing debt, meeting obligations to our seniors and making target investments to grow our economy. we need a