The senator's caveats and curlicues.

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The strong spending caps in my plan will ensure that spending doesn't grow. ¹ And if Congress fails to keep spending in line, the budget caps will mean across-the-board cuts in every area. ^{2 3  4 5 6 7} So when I say "a cap on spending," I mean it.

—Washington, D.C., April 7, 2004

[1] faster than inflation
[2] except security
[3] and education
[4] and mandatory programs
[5] like health care
[6] Social Security
[7] and Medicare.

Verbatim:

The strong spending caps in my plan will ensure that spending doesn't grow faster than inflation. And if Congress fails to keep spending in line, the budget caps will mean across-the-board cuts in every area except security and education and mandatory programs like health care, Social Security, and Medicare. So when I say "a cap on spending," I mean it.

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