Joe Crowley: “In 1965, with a Democratic President, a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate the Medicare program was founded. Am I…”

“In 1965, with a Democratic President, a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate the Medicare program was founded. Am I to believe today with a Republican President, a Republican House and a Republican Senate that somehow you all are going to save a program you did not support in the first place? We have an expression in New York and all around this country, give me a break. You are not about saving Medicare or Social Security. You are about dismantling it, and in 40 years, when I look at my children and they ask me where were you when they tried to dismantle Medicare, I will look them in the eye and I will be able to tell them that I voted against the dismantling of this great program. I will vote against this, and I will vote against any chance that you may bring up to this floor to dismantle Social Security as well. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support Medicare and oppose the incredibly offensive bill before us tonight. Medicare was created nearly 40 years ago to protect the health of seniors. And today, sadly, Members of this Congress are seeking to destroy the very program that has been so helpful to so many. In its place, Republicans claim they are inserting a new, better, and expanded program. But the reality is that this is not a bill about providing drug coverage under Medicare. This is a bill about giving billions of dollars to insurance companies and drug companies.”