Cuts to Social Security and Medicare

Floor Speech

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I just don't get this discussion about the fiscal cliff.

Republicans are saying that in order to raise taxes on the very wealthiest Americans--and actually, by a historically small amount--that the price that has to be paid is to ask the poorest adult Americans to pay more, that is, to reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits.

I don't get the equivalency that is being asked for: the richest to pay a bit more, and the price to be that the poor, the poorest, have to pay more. Seniors in this country have a median income of just $22,000 a year. That means half of all seniors are below that. They also spend an average, right now, of $4,500 a year on health care costs out of their own pockets.

So I think that we have to change the debate here. There is a parable in the Bible that makes this point. When you ask a person with one coat to give up that coat, it's not the same as asking someone with 10 coats to donate one to the cause.

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