On the recordMarch 29, 2012
I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding. Madam Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to both the Garrett substitute and the Ryan budget. Today's debate is about one thing: priorities. Should Nevada seniors be the priority for the United States Congress? Or should Wall Street and Big Oil companies be the priority? The Republican budget proposal answers that question very clearly. Instead of tackling Nevada's record unemployment and foreclosure rates, Washington Republicans are, instead, advocating to kill Medicare by turning it over to profit-hungry insurance companies. This proposal would raise the premiums for Nevada's seniors by up to $6,000 a year. {time} 1220 Why would Republicans do this? In order to pay for more tax breaks for corporations that ship good-paying American jobs overseas or to continue taxpayer giveaways to Big Oil companies that made a record $137 billion in profits last year alone? Madam Chair, these are the wrong priorities. Wall Street millionaires and Big Oil companies don't need our help. They're doing just fine. But Nevada seniors are struggling to make ends meet. Putting private insurance companies in between patients and their doctors would just make things worse. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in rejecting this plan and any plan that has the wrong priorities and tries to kill Medicare by turning it over to private insurance companies whose only interest is profits and not the health and well-being of our seniors.
