Today the US House of Representatives voted and passed the 2012 budget that was put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). The republican Bill will kill Medicare and replace it with a voucher program and leave senior citizens to fend for themselves trying to find an insurance company that will accept them. The vote was 238-193.
The budget Bill H.CON.RES.34, Titled: ‘Establishing the budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2012 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2013 through 2021‘, will not even balance the budget until 2040 according to the CBO. But it will make trillions for the health care industry as it privatizes what was once Medicare. (Bill Summary: Library of Congress)
Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) who recently announced that he will run for the US Senate, voted yes on this Bill jeopardizing hundreds of thousands of senior citizens who are on Medicare along with future senior citizens in the State of Nevada.
The Bill also destroys Medicaid as we know it. Medicaid is used to provide health care for the poor and their children. The Bill that the House Republicans passed will create a fund which will be used for block grants for each State to use as they see fit in providing Medicaid.
Also voting to kill Medicare is Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) who represents Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District (CD3).
Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) who yesterday announced that she too will be running for the US Senate and most likely face Dean Heller in the General Election in 2012, voted against killing Medicare and Medicaid.
The Bill just past gives trillions in tax breaks to corporations and lower taxes for the rich which will be paid for by slashing programs for seniors, children, college, clean air, clean water, consumer product safety programs, etc.
Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist called the Ryan plan a "fraud" alleging that its deficit numbers are cooked and its underlying assumptions are unrealistic.
“It proposes huge additional tax cuts for high earners, over and above the Bush tax cuts; $2.9 trillion dollars’ worth just over the next decade,” said Krugman
President Obama said in a speech this past Wednesday as he defended Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, "We are a better country because of these commitments," he said. "I'll go further – we would not be a great country without those commitments."
And yesterday, President Obama said that the Republican Party is attempting to turn the United States into a “Third World Country”, as the republicans continue to attack American workers to lower their wages and eliminate their benefits to create a cheap American work force in our own backyard.
And remember all those ‘Tea Party Folk” who showed up at those Tea Party rallies waving signs saying keep your hands off of my Medicare as they fought to stop Obama from providing health care for more Americans? Well, you have to wonder how long it will take before all those baby boomers in the Tea Party realize that they voted against their own best interests, because of the millions spent on propaganda by the health care industry.
Today we saw Rep. Dean Heller and Rep. Joe Heck voting to kill the health care systems that keep American seniors, poor families and their children alive. Former Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) once said from the House floor that the GOP Health Care Plan is: "Don't Get Sick! And if You Do Get Sick, Die Quickly!" (video). His statement sounded over the top then and it sounds over the top now, but the fact is he is right. Republican actions, not their words, bear witness to Grayson’s statement. But sadly, it will be a slow death for many Americans.
Former Rep. Alan Grayson from the House floor on the GOP Health Care Plan: "Don't Get Sick! And if You Do Get Sick, Die Quickly!"