To the editor:

As a senior on Social Security and approaching Medicare, I don’t get the failure of everyone in Washington. Raising taxes on the “rich” is projected to increase federal revenues by some $850 billion over 10 years. In the same time period, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will increase by $1.5 trillion if nothing is changed. We are not even keeping pace with these program costs.

Washington is projected to get $5.5 billion in revenue next year but has a debt of $17.5 billion. By 2016, the next election, that debt is projected at $20 trillion. By 2020, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid will consume two-thirds of the federal budget. Reform and adjustments are desperately needed.

Some agencies and departments will complain that they are just a small portion of the budget and should be spared, but when you are borrowing as much money as Washington is, every penny helps.

Audit every department extensively, cut spending everywhere and raise revenue to meet somewhere near the middle. Demand constructive change.