On the recordJuly 19, 2011
When we were all sworn in, we were also sworn to protect the Constitution of the United States, not manipulate the Constitution of the United States to protect special interest tax breaks for oil and gas companies or other special interests by implanting into that document a requirement that two- thirds of this body and the Senate have to vote to get rid of them for purposes of deficit reduction. I also think that while we're all entitled to our own opinions, we're not entitled to our own facts. If you look at the Medicare trustees' report, it will indicate that the health care reform bill extended the life of the trust fund, and we also did it by getting rid of the overpayments to some of the Medicare Advantage plans that were being paid at 114 percent of what other plans were being paid for. Taxpayers were oversubsidizing those plans, as were Medicare recipients. With that, I yield 3 minutes to a terrific member of the Budget Committee, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Tonko).
