Democratic National Committee and Senior Leaders Call Out Congressional Republicans on Their Decades Long Effort to Kill Medicare
For Immediate Release
September 9, 2009
Contact: Megan Jacobs 202-590-4666
Democratic National Committee and Senior Leaders Call Out Congressional Republicans on Their Decades Long Effort to Kill Medicare
Full audio of the call can be found here: http://www.democrats.org/page/-/audio/calls/ConfCall130pm090909.mp3
WATCH the New DNC AD “REPUBLICANS WANT TO END MEDICARE”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59qMNRHupNI
Washington, DC – Today, on a call with reporters, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) along with Richard Fiesta, Government Affairs and Political Director for the Alliance for Retired Americans and Steve Regenstreif, AFSCME Director, Retiree Programs called out Congressional Republicans on their decades long effort to kill Medicare.
As part of their continued attempts to spread lies and misinformation about health insurance reform, Republicans have tried to scare seniors into thinking reform will result in cuts to Medicare benefits. This couldn’t be further from the truth -- the President’s proposed health insurance reforms will not cut benefits, but will strengthen the program by cutting waste, ending special interest subsidies and closing the prescription drug “donut hole.”
The real truth is, Republicans have been no friends to seniors. For decades, Republicans have fought to gut Medicare funding and have made repeated attempts to kill the program altogether. Even earlier this year, 137 Republicans voted for a House budget proposal which would have ended Medicare as we know it.
In response to this misinformation, the DNC released a new television ad which began running yesterday on national and District of Columbia cable stations and in ten Republican congressional districts, blasting the Republican Party for voting earlier this year to abolish Medicare and for its decades long hostility towards the health care program for our nation's seniors. "No Friend to Seniors" is running in the districts of U.S. Reps. Eric Cantor (VA), John Boehner (OH), Lee Terry (NE), Patrick Tiberi (OH), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Don Young (AK), Paul Ryan (WI), Michele Bachmann (MN), Jean Schmidt (OH), and Erik Paulsen (MN).
Brad Woodhouse, DNC Communications Director
“What we have seen out of Republicans for the last six weeks and what we saw out of Sarah Palin today in the Wall Street Journal is nothing short of deplorable. The Republican Party, Sarah Palin included, have opposed programs like Medicare, have opposed programs like Social Security, have wished that they had never been created and have proposed cuts to virtual elimination of both of these programs over time and have supported efforts to undermine programs that are vital to our Nation’s seniors… what Sarah Palin proposed today in her op-ed and the thing that she continues to talk about as it relates to seniors and health insurance reform is scurrilous, it’s risky, it’s scary and it has no place in this debate…Rhetoric has to be replaced with realty. The reality of what Republicans have proposed over and over again is to undermine Medicare, to outright abolish it, to dismantle Social Security and there’s no way that we’re going to listen to the Sarah Palin, John Boehner and Michael Steele’s of the world today telling us that they have the best interests of Seniors at heart… they are so concerned that President Obama is on the cusp of successfully implementing health insurance reform that they will literally say anything, they will take any port in this storm to try and undermine the President, to break him politically, as they have said they want to do, and to kill reform. So now they are trying to scare seniors with discussions of death panels, with erroneous accusations that President Obama and the Democrats would propose to cut Medicare benefits - none of which is true - and we are not going to let them get away with it.”
Steve Regenstreif, AFSCME Director, Retiree Programs
“All across the country, the opponents of health care reform are spreading misinformation about President Obama’s proposals to improve health care coverage for all Americans. We shouldn’t be surprised by that – the insurance companies, the right-wing radio hosts, the K Street lobbyists and the Republican leadership who are spreading the misinformation have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. They are willing to lie to protect industry profits.”
Richard Fiestia, Government Affairs and Political Director, Alliance for Retired Americans
“Again today, and this last month, we’ve seen the gang that wanted to take the ‘security’ out of Social Security with privatization in 2005 is now back in 2009 wanting to take the ‘care’ out of Medicare…right now in health care reform we have an exciting moment before us that could actually do positive change for seniors -- we can close the ‘donut hole’ in the coverage gap in Medicare part D, we can lower prescription drug costs”
###
