The Democrats Have a Plan: Cut Benefits or Raise Medicare Taxes
West Virginia Democrat’s Leaders Lay Out New Political Strategy to Let Medicare Go Bankrupt
Washington — In light of the praise the House Republican budget plan has received, Nick Rahall’s House Democrat leaders are responding by using scare tactics and demagoguery to mislead Americans. Their smoke and mirrors campaign is merely a ploy to hide from the public the truth about the Democrats’ own plan. In reality, Rahall is only interested in doubling down on his Democrat budget plan that will bankrupt Medicare and force either massive payroll tax increases on all American workers or slash benefits immediately and severely.
“Remarkably, Nick Rahall continues to follow along with Nancy Pelosi as she plays her D.C. political games, even though doing so would bankrupt Medicare and force immediate payroll tax increases or slashes to benefits,” said NRCC Communications Director Paul Lindsay. “Even more shocking is the fact that Democrat leaders fully grasp the dire consequences of their plan, and yet Rahall and his colleagues seem content to use scare tactics instead of stepping up to propose serious solutions to our enormous fiscal challenges and to protect the programs families depend on.”
Rahall and his Democrat leaders are using demagoguery and scare tactics as part of a calculated political move, which was revealed Wednesday by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on a conference call:
“Pelosi … said that so doing would have persuaded people that there must have been something wrong with Social Security that needed fixing. She suggested that Dems should keep that message in mind as they prepare to do battle over Ryan’s Medicare proposals.”
(Greg Sargent, “Pelosi: Dems shouldn’t take GOP’s bait on Medicare,” The Washington Post‘s The Plum Line Blog, 4/6/11)However, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer has acknowledged that failing to get serious on spending would have dire consequences:
And the Democrats’ budget and its failure to seriously tackle reform have been noteworthy:
“Unlike Obama, who has yet to offer any serious proposal to bring the budget into balance and stop the national debt from reaching a dangerously high level, Ryan offered a budget plan Tuesday that would pare spending by about $6 trillion over the next decade, and by enough to eliminate the deficit within 30 years.” (Editorial, “The GOP plan for the federal deficit,” Los Angeles Times, 4/6/11)
So far, amidst the serious discussions about how to get our dangerous fiscal situation back on track, Rahall and his Democrat leaders have decided to keep playing political games instead by using scare tactics to mask their inability to provide a serious solution. Unfortunately for his West Virginia constituents, that means Rahall continues to do nothing to reduce our astounding deficits or protect Medicare from going bankrupt.
The Democrats have a plan: Cut Medicare benefits or raise taxes http://ow.ly/4vmVt #MadeinWDC