Grace Napolitano: “There is a crisis looming over our Nation. The Medicare trust fund is currently projected to run out within the next 3…”

“There is a crisis looming over our Nation. The Medicare trust fund is currently projected to run out within the next 3 years. However, the Nation is also receiving a great windfall. We have heard about it. This current budget deficit is over, and we now have a projected surplus, and the economists... have forecast to run for the next 15 years. We must use a portion of this windfall to stave off the looming crisis. Let us commit to dedicating 15 percent of the surplus over the next 15 years to saving Medicare, saving and protecting Medicare, not offering meaningless tax cuts that are not going to prove any long-term benefit for our children and grandchildren. This proposal will extend the life of the Medicare program to the year 2020. I am pleased that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have agreed with us to use 62 percent of the budget surplus to protect Social Security, and now I hope they will also join us in protecting Medicare.”