On the recordMarch 21, 2012
I thank my friend from Michigan for yielding, and I want to comment on something, Madam Chair, that my dear friend from Michigan, the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, said. As has become part of the Republican catechism, he talked about the so-called Medicare cuts that were in the Affordable Care Act. It is correct that in the Affordable Care Act we reduced Medicare spending by $495 billion by cutting corporate welfare to insurance companies, by cutting overpayments to medical equipment suppliers, and cracking down on fraud and abuse of the Medicare program. The majority must agree with these ideas because in the budget they are marking up today in the Budget Committee, every penny of that $495 billion in savings is included in the majority's budget. The majority must agree with these savings, and I commend them for it, because the budget resolution that passed here last year that essentially every member of the majority voted for included every penny of that $495 billion in savings. So I would ask my friends on the other side that if they're so in objection to those cuts, why did you vote for them last year? And why are they in your budget this year? I would be happy to yield.
