[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8384-8385]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        PRESIDENT TRUMP'S BUDGET

  (Mr. PANETTA asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PANETTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concern about 
the President's budget, and, in particular, the $610 billion in 
proposed cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years.
  In my district on the central coast of California, Medicaid provides 
healthcare to over 280,000 people. These are people that need it the 
most, including low-income families, children, disabled, and pregnant 
women.
  Clinics and hospitals, particularly in rural communities like my 
district, rely on Medicaid to provide patients with mandatory and 
preventative services. Employees from the number one industry in my 
area--agriculture--rely on those health clinics so that they can stay 
healthy and ultimately contribute to our economy and our culture.
  If Medicaid is cut, as desired in the President's budget, it will 
hurt not just my community, it will hurt our country.
  Throughout our Nation, millions would lose healthcare, healthcare 
clinics would close, and many insurance companies who partner with 
Medicaid would see cuts in their reimbursement rates substantially.
  I realize that many of us in Washington have not been on Medicaid, 
but many of us need to realize that Medicaid benefits many of the 
Americans that sent us here. The least we can do is support them and 
their families by fighting against the President's budget

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and fighting to keep funding for Medicaid.

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