Political Quotes

“I can't express my concern with greater alarm about this budget. It is a budget that's going to inflict terrible harm on Americans from all walks of life, while protecting the wealthiest taxpayers in America, both individuals and Republicans. Now, if I give the benefit of the doubt to the Republican sponsors of their budget proposal that they're sincere, they are speaking from an ideological point of view, they want to try a social experiment in this country. But if they fail to live up to what they say they're going to accomplish, there is going to be tremendous harm. We have a social contract with seniors to provide affordable, accessible, comprehensive health care under Medicare. And they want to take Medicare and end it, and tell those people to go to private insurance companies. We have estimates that the average senior will face cost increases of $6,000 when the program begins, and it could be over $11,000 per beneficiary in later years. But right away, to add insult to injury, they would reopen the doughnut hole under the part D prescription drug benefit, meaning people still have to pay all of the cost of their drugs, reversing what the Affordable Care Act provided. But most of their cuts are coming from the Medicaid program. They want to take Medicaid and turn it into a block grant. Medicaid accounts for 43 percent of total long-term care spending in the U.S. Most of it goes to seniors and disabled people who are in nursing homes.…”