The Republican Budget

Floor Speech

Ms. RICHARDSON. In 1935 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law and then again in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson made Medicare a reality, these were programs that our seniors depended upon. In fact, that promise was backed by a lifetime of hard work that they have backed on their own sweat and tears, and yet now we need to back it up with our commitment.

Mr. Speaker, my Democratic colleagues and I favor a budget that recognizes our dual responsibility to, yes, reduce our deficit, but not on the backs of our seniors who have already paid into Social Security and have now received Medicare benefits, who oftentimes have limited means to really have the opportunities to increase their salary. In my district, 52,000 people are over the age of 65. Only 11.9 percent of them are working. These are impossible odds.

Mr. Speaker, we need a budget, but we are not willing to do it on the backs of seniors. You make your choice. Democrats have a better way, and it's not called hurting seniors.

Source