Having voted for huge Medicare cuts, Republicans are now holding them hostage to lifting the debt ceiling. Talking Points Memo reports:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says substantial Medicare cuts must be part of a spending and deficit cut package to get his support to raise the debt limit.
In a Capitol briefing with reporters Friday, McConnell declared affirmatively that unspecified Medicare cuts are on the table in bipartisan debt limit negotiations, led by Vice President Joe Biden, and he expects they’ll be part of the final deal. But in response to a question from TPM, he went further than he has in the past in laying down a marker on that issue. Medicare cuts must be part of that deal to get his support, he says — even if negotiators manage to find trillions of dollars in savings elsewhere, even if his other priorities are met.
“To get my vote, for me, it’s going to take short term [cuts, via spending caps]… Both medium and long-term, entitlements.,” McConnell said. “Medicare will be part of the solution.”
To clarify, I asked “[I]f [the Biden group] comes up with big cuts, trillions of dollars worth of cuts, but without substantially addressing Medicare, it won’t get your vote?”
“Correct,” McConnell said.
Sen. Harry Reid’s office responds:
Republicans are holding the United States’ credit hostage to ram through their plan to end Medicare. They are now saying they won’t accept any plan to reduce the deficit unless it also cuts Medicare. Voters have resoundingly rejected this ideological agenda. Republicans should drop it and move on.
It strikes me as very odd that when Democrats actually did cut an incredibly wasteful Medicare program in order to insure more low-income Americans, Republicans fiercely resisted it and hammered them throughout the 2010 campaign for it. Now the GOP is insisting on deeper cuts in order to pay for tax cuts?
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2011.
If the Republicans & the Teabaggers get what they want & cuts are made to Medicare then I say vote every single one of them out of office. End their political careers permanently!!
Then for each individual state vote those Republicans & Teabaggers out of office.
Lets see how they like it when the voters have had enough of their lies, their broken campaign promises & not working for the American People!
Let the Independents get voted into office & see if they can work for the American People.
What lies? They said they were going to “make the government” pay for itself and cut the fat. They said they would NOT raise taxes (like all the Democrats try to, all the time).
Thats what they were voted in ON, and thats what theyre doing. It is the Democrats who refuse to cut the fat and as previously mentioned-want to raise raise raise taxes!
So what the heck are YOU talking about? We need to make it a clean sweep and get rid of every Democrat who holds office!!! Only then can we put the brakes on our out of control economy!!
Guiseppe, keep on pushing that point. It worked well for the GOP in NY26.
I’d point out that while campaigning, Republicans attacked Democrats for enacting cuts to Medicare Advantage that the GOP has now voted in implement.
The repugnicans do not need to cut Medicare in order to destroy this economy.