[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17289-17290]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  CUTS TO SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I just don't get 
this discussion about the fiscal cliff.
  Republicans are saying that in order to raise taxes on the very 
wealthiest Americans--and actually, by a historically small amount--
that the price that has to be paid is to ask the poorest adult 
Americans to pay more, that is, to reduce Social Security and Medicare 
benefits.
  I don't get the equivalency that is being asked for: the richest to 
pay a bit more, and the price to be that the poor, the poorest, have to 
pay more. Seniors in this country have a median income of just $22,000 
a year. That means half of all seniors are below that. They also spend 
an average, right now, of $4,500 a year on health care costs out of 
their own pockets.

[[Page 17290]]

  So I think that we have to change the debate here. There is a parable 
in the Bible that makes this point. When you ask a person with one coat 
to give up that coat, it's not the same as asking someone with 10 coats 
to donate one to the cause.

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