Joe Baca: “These are tough times for the American people everywhere. In my home State of California, families face a 12 percent…”

“These are tough times for the American people everywhere. In my home State of California, families face a 12 percent unemployment rate, and the gas prices are well over $4 a gallon. But instead of working together to solve the problems, the Republican leadership has voted to end Medicare as we know it and extend the tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas. This week the Senate will have its chance to vote on a reckless Republican budget. The consequences of this misguided plan are devastating for the senior citizens--again I state--devastating to the senior citizens and the middle class. In California alone, the Republican budget would cost seniors--I state--cost seniors over $214 million in higher prescription drug costs next year; cut almost $54 billion in Medicaid funding for seniors and the disabled; and would cost us 186,000 private sector jobs that will be lost over the next 5 years. We must scrap this plan. Let us work together on a reasonable budget to protect Medicare. ____________________”