[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8639-8640]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           DON'T END MEDICARE

  (Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, my constituents are wondering when the House 
majority will hear their cries: Don't end Medicare. In fact, a recent 
CNN poll showed opposition to the Road to Ruin budget that ends 
Medicare, with the highest amongst those being senior citizens at 74 
percent opposed to the plan.
  In addition, the voters in the 26th Congressional District of New 
York recently made their voices heard when they elected Representative 
Kathy Hochul to be the newest Member of Congress. Their top concern was 
that the Republican budget threatens to end Medicare. They know that 
under the plan, anyone under the age of 55 will be forced to save an 
extra $182,000 just to pay for their future health care costs in 
retirements. That number rises to a startling $400,000 for those in 
their thirties. These statistics are even more

[[Page 8640]]

astounding when you consider the billions of dollars in tax breaks 
Republicans have given away to our country's wealthiest individuals as 
well as Big Oil companies.
  Enough is enough. If Republicans are serious about protecting our 
Nation's seniors, they would work with us to strengthen Medicare, not 
end it.

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