Political Quotes

“That is a quick overview of the tax changes. Let us see what is happening on the spending side. I am sorry to say, the picture gets worse. It deteriorates even more. The fact is, this plan pays for its tax breaks by taking away health care from the poorest Americans. The plan would cut Medicaid by $64 billion, and a good deal of it specifically directed at payments for hospitals which serve large numbers of uninsured and the poor. This would mean that a great number of small and rural hospitals all across this country would simply go out of business. This would mean that the State governments would have placed upon their backs a greater burden in providing health care for the poor. And to compound the felony, a large proportion of the Medicare cuts would affect the same hospitals. What is this paying for? This is paying for those tax reductions we talked about earlier, the capital gains tax cut that is targeted to the upper income groups and the IRA deduction that will be taken advantage of primarily by those in the upper income groups, the wealthiest Americans. There is something else going on in this budget that our friends on the other side are not eager to advertise. This budget plan would absolutely kill health care reform. It would drive the last nail in the coffin of health care reform, and drive a wooden stake through its heart.”