Bill Delahunt: “Now, of course, we are presented with a plan that would cut Medicare and cut Medicaid. So if you are a senior in this…”

“Now, of course, we are presented with a plan that would cut Medicare and cut Medicaid. So if you are a senior in this country, and, of course, we are here representing the generation of 30 somethings, but if you happen to be getting close to that point in your life where you receive a Medicare card, be careful. Do not count on it. A while back there was a speaker who preceded over this Chamber who said Medicare, let it wither on the vine. Well, I wonder if that particular submission to cut and slash Medicare is the beginning of the withering process. It just is not right. But, as we were saying earlier, a lot of it is just rank incompetence. But when you combine this magnitude of incompetence that we have witnessed surrounding Katrina and surrounding the reconstruction of Iraq, it easily evolves into corruption. There was an audit done or at least a preliminary audit done by the General Accountability Office which, as Members know is a nonpartisan, independent agency to review government expenditures; and they discovered that the government has squandered millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid, including handing 2,000 debit cards to people who gave phony Social Security numbers and used the money for such items as a $450 tattoo.”