Repealing Mandatory Funding for Graduate Medical Education

Floor Speech

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Ms. RICHARDSON. I rise to speak in opposition to H.R. 1216.

Under the guise of deficit reduction, Republicans, through H.R. 1216, are attempting to attack our Nation's vital support system for our seniors. The Republican budget would deny seniors, and those who are coming forward after those that are currently taking advantage of these benefits, health care, long-term care, and the Social Security benefits that these seniors have earned.

Sunday evening, I just got back from my district where I had an opportunity to have our annual senior briefing, and there were over 900 seniors who were there and they were concerned. I spoke with several of my seniors in my district, and they're worried about how they and even some of their parents who are in their nineties today will be able to get by once RyanCare--which is what I'm going to call it, the attack on Medicare--destroys something we all need. By following RyanCare and turning Medicare into a voucher program, Republicans would gradually eliminate the peace of mind that many of our seniors have grown to be able to count on.

We don't want to go back to the old days of calling seniors ``poor'' and not having an opportunity to live in dignity in the last years. These fixed value vouchers, which are being suggested in RyanCare, would not only not keep up with the rising costs of health care, but it would cost seniors an additional $7,000 more per year by 2020.

In California alone, which is where I'm from, under the Republican budget, seniors would pay $214 million more on prescription drugs in 2012 alone. That's next year.

The Republican budget would return our country to a time when being old was something that people would be afraid of, not look forward to.

The Republican budget would also turn Medicaid into a block grant system. Haven't we seen what that's done with community development block grants? It wouldn't work. Under a block grant system, Medicaid would no longer be able to support the elderly. By converting the current Medicaid system into a block grant index to inflation and population growth, Congress would shift the burdens of rising health care costs and aging populations to the States. All you have to do is look at the Los Angeles Times to see what's happening to my State, and I don't think we'd be able to help the seniors.

The deficit must be addressed. In fact, I've supported many bills and amendments that have been brought forward on the other side. But it should be done in a fair way. We should not balance the budget on the backs of our Nation's seniors, not after Wall Street and our car manufacturers got a bailout.

I will, and Democrats will, continue to work to protect, strengthen, and save Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

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