[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        REPUBLICAN BUDGET: ASSAULT ON MEDICARE AND MIDDLE CLASS

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, once again, Republicans in the House have 
put forward a budget that ends Medicare as we know it. This is an all-
out Republican assault on Medicare and our Nation's middle class.
  Who benefits from this Republican budget? Millionaires certainly do. 
Think Wall Street Bonus Boys. This Republican budget would give them an 
additional tax cut of $187,000--that's for starters--yet lower and 
middle class Americans, people making $20,000 to $30,000 a year, they 
get no tax cut at all.
  This Republican budget also gives away $3 trillion in tax cuts and 
benefits to corporations. Republicans' real priorities: cutting the 
safety net, giving the superrich a handout, and ignoring the damage to 
the deficit.
  The Republicans would end the promise of Medicare for both current 
and future beneficiaries by shifting the program to private insurance 
financed by vouchers. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says 
that the Republican budget would reduce benefits to seniors and force 
many to spend much more than they do today.
  Why are the Republicans so intent on making seniors sacrifice first? 
Why not claw back Wall Street's bonuses?
  I urge my colleagues to vote against the Republican budget. Support 
the Democratic alternative. Protect seniors and our middle class.

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