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Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2012

Date: April 15, 2011
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Senior Citizens Unemployed and Low-Income Entitlements and the Safety Net Health and Health Care Government Budget and Spending

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Mr. CLYBURN. I thank my friend from Maryland for yielding me this time.

Mr. Chairman, we have heard from our Republican friends that they're transforming Medicare. They call it a move to premium support. They also say they're just fixing the flaws in Medicaid. They say they're being brave, and finally tackling entitlement reform. But earlier today, on one of the morning shows, I heard my friend from Texas, Jeb Hensarling, being finally candid about the Republicans' view of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. He called them cruel Ponzi schemes. So there we have it.

This isn't about being brave, or transformative, or making a few changes to save the economy. Republicans are pushing the same agenda they have always had, ending the safety net programs that they view as fraudulent. And the Republican budget does exactly that. It ends Medicare, results in a huge cost shift, and forces seniors to pay $6,000 per year out of pocket.

It block grants Medicaid, slashes nursing home aid, and would lead to 50 different benefit programs across the country. That takes us back to my childhood, when benefits in our country were determined by what State you may have been fortunate or unfortunate to have been born in.

But the greatest fraud being committed is that these drastic and unfair changes don't even bring the Republican budget to balance. In fact, the Republican budget adds $8 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. Then where is all that money going, one might ask. While Republicans are gutting Medicare and Medicaid with one hand, they're giving tax breaks to big oil companies and making tax cuts for the wealthy with the other hand. That's what I call a Ponzi scheme.

Now, if you're wealthy or a special interest group, this is surely a pathway to prosperity. But if you're in your golden years, it's the Road to Ruin. Democrats have a plan to reduce the deficit in a steady, responsible way as we build a foundation for shared prosperity and long-term economic growth. In fact, the Democratic budget achieves primary balance by fiscal year 2018, and cuts the deficit by $1.2 trillion more than the President's budget. I proudly support the Democratic alternative budget.

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