[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5104]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE REPUBLICAN BUDGET

  (Ms. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. RICHARDSON. In 1935 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt 
signed the Social Security Act into law and then again in 1965 when 
President Lyndon Johnson made Medicare a reality, these were programs 
that our seniors depended upon. In fact, that promise was backed by a 
lifetime of hard work that they have backed on their own sweat and 
tears, and yet now we need to back it up with our commitment.
  Mr. Speaker, my Democratic colleagues and I favor a budget that 
recognizes our dual responsibility to, yes, reduce our deficit, but not 
on the backs of our seniors who have already paid into Social Security 
and have now received Medicare benefits, who oftentimes have limited 
means to really have the opportunities to increase their salary. In my 
district, 52,000 people are over the age of 65. Only 11.9 percent of 
them are working. These are impossible odds.
  Mr. Speaker, we need a budget, but we are not willing to do it on the 
backs of seniors. You make your choice. Democrats have a better way, 
and it's not called hurting seniors.

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