Eva M. Clayton: “by all accounts, there is at least a $3,500 billion hole in the budget that the majority will present to us next week.…”

“by all accounts, there is at least a $3,500 billion hole in the budget that the majority will present to us next week. They want to balance the budget, and so do I. They do not want to cut Medicare, if possible; so do I. But they have also passed a bill to give the wealthiest of Americans a tax cut. In other words, they want to use one-half of the budget for deficit reduction, they say; half of the money will go for Medicare, and the third half will go for the wealthiest Americans. That math does not add up, Mr. Speaker. The tax cut will cost more than $345 billion that they gave to the wealthiest Americans. That is $45 billion more than they need to save Medicare. Now we are told the majority wants to put off the decision about Medicare. They are already 1 month behind their commitment to present a budget to this House. Mr. Speaker, it seems clear what is going on here. In the end the majority will cut more than fat out of Medicare; they will cut the bone and the marrow out of Medicare. They will cause senior citizens to spend more than $3,000 more for their medical care. Mr. Speaker, that is not fair. America will be the losers in the end if we do not address this appropriately.”