[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5663-5664]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                MEDICARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in defense of our Nation's 
seniors, who are currently under attack. And the worst part about it is 
many of them are just waking up this morning to the nightmare that 
faces them. And why is that? Because the Republican budget proposal 
released this week is literally balanced on the fragile backs of our 
Nation's seniors. That's right. It ends Medicare as we know it. That's 
the simple truth. It no longer honors our commitment and our promise to 
our Nation's seniors.
  As Americans now know, we are in the midst of a serious budget 
battle, and the Republicans are even threatening to shut down 
government. And there are real differences between our approach to the 
budget and the Republican budget released earlier this week. The 
Republican budget replaces Medicare with a voucher system. Seniors will 
have to use this voucher to buy insurance from private insurance 
companies.
  Under the Republican plan, Medicare as we know it will end. And in 
the same budget proposal, the Republicans give away tens of billions of 
dollars in subsidies to big oil companies. And under their plan, they 
will slash support for seniors in nursing homes, while giving away tax 
breaks to companies that ship our jobs overseas.
  And what else? America's seniors, more than 150,000 in my home State 
of Rhode Island, will literally be paying more for their health care 
and getting less in order to provide additional tax breaks to the 
wealthiest Americans, also reflected in this Republican budget.
  To make matters worse, the Republican plan does not reduce the 
deficit. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined that 
this budget actually adds $8 trillion to the national debt over the 
next decade because its cuts in spending are far outpaced by the 
gigantic tax cuts for the richest Americans.
  Our seniors cannot afford this Republican budget. It would deny them 
health care, long-term care, and the benefits they've earned and 
deserve. The Republicans' choice to privatize Medicare, turning more 
power over to the insurance companies, will result in reduced coverage 
and exposure to greater financial risks for our seniors.
  The Congressional Budget Office determined that under the Republican 
budget seniors' out-of-pocket expenses for health care would more than 
double, and could almost triple. To put that into context, the 
Congressional Budget Office found out that by 2030 seniors would pay 68 
percent of premiums and out-of-pocket costs under the Republican plan, 
compared to only 25 percent under current law. And it found that the 
Republican plan means seniors will pay more for their prescription 
drugs because it reestablishes the doughnut hole.
  Even Alice Rivlin, the former Office of Management and Budget 
Director under President Clinton, who worked with the Republican 
architect of this budget on a deficit reduction proposal, said she 
could not support his Medicare proposal because it eliminated the 
traditional Medicare choice and lowered the rate of growth beyond 
what's defensible.
  And the conservative Wall Street Journal concluded earlier this week, 
quote: The plan would essentially end Medicare, which now pays for 48 
million elderly and disabled Americans, as a program that directly pays 
those bills.
  Under the guise of deficit reduction, Republicans are recklessly 
attacking the vital supports for our seniors.
  We all agree that we have to address the deficit. The issue is not 
whether we reduce the deficit but how we do it. We can't cut what helps 
us create jobs, innovate for the future, and remain competitive in the 
global marketplace. And

[[Page 5664]]

we cannot balance this budget on the backs of our Nation's seniors.
  The Federal budget is about more than dollars and cents. It's a 
statement of our values and priorities as a nation. Republicans in this 
budget have set the wrong priorities. They would rather cut benefits to 
seniors than cut subsidies to Big Oil or corporations that ship our 
jobs overseas. The Republican budget breaks the promise we made to our 
seniors to protect them in their golden years.
  I say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: If we can't 
protect our Greatest Generation, I ask you, what's next?

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