Marathon Pundit: Roskam appears on WTTW's Chicago Tonight, talks budget

Last night US Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL), the Chief Majority Deputh Whip appeared on WTTW's Chicago Tonight on Wednesday--he was joined by US Rep. Bobby Rush (D-IL).

Here's some of what the Wheaton Republican said on the show:

On the Urgency of America's Debt Crisis:

"The urgency of this cannot be overstated. The federal government is borrowing 40 cents on the dollar. So the ability to go into old models and these old passé arguments is completely hackneyed. I think the public has the right to know the nature of these issues."

Giving President Obama a Blank Check is "Irresponsible":

"With all due respect to President Obama, he proposed a budget that was laughed off the pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. They said it's not serious. It doesn't deal with the crisis that’s upon us. And to suggest now that the president should get a blank check in a debt ceiling vote is irresponsible."

The Path to Prosperity is the Only Proposal That Eliminates Our Debt and Saves Entitlements:

"The Republican plan balances. A weakness of the White House plan is it never comes to balance – ever. There's no point under the White House plan at which revenues and expenses are in sync. The Republican plan, by contrast, says look, what we need to do is balance this budget, get us on a pathway to prosperity – that's what we've named this plan – and ultimately to create jobs and a buoyancy in the economy.

It balances the budget first by transforming the tax code to lower tax rates and broaden the base so that we can have a competitive tax system globally, headquartered here in the U.S. Secondly, it takes on entitlements in a way that saves them… Medicare will be insolvent – the trust fund will be insolvent – in nine years. We know this crisis is coming…"