Budget

John Boehner: Let's Cut Entitlements

Wants to curb Social Security, Medicare.

If you think the current budget fight is nasty, just wait till the spring. House Speaker John Boehner tells The Wall Street Journal that he aims to cut Social Security and Medicare–and that he thinks he can sell it to the public. "Once they understand how big the problem is, I think people will be more receptive to what the possible solutions may be,” he said. Entitlement programs like Social Security make up more than 60 percent of the budget, and are expected to grow rapidly over the next 10 years. A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll this week showed that fewer than a quarter of Americans support making cuts to Social Security or Medicare. He also offered an olive branch of sorts to President Obama on the issue: "I offered to the president we could lock arms and walk out and begin the conversation about the size of the problem.” The president, he says, responded “positively.”