Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word. I just say to my friend from Georgia, who really is my friend, that this isn't about demagoguery, sir. And what I would say, Madam Chair, the issue before us is: What got our country into a…
Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.
I just say to my friend from Georgia, who really is my friend, that this isn't about demagoguery, sir. And what I would say, Madam Chair, the issue before us is: What got our country into a financial pickle? The Republicans want to pick on Medicare, but Americans know.
I had a Government in the Grocery this weekend, and an older gentleman came up to me. He said, Why is there such a focus on Medicare, something that has been working for 50 years? It's helping seniors have healthier, longer lives. What's the big deal? He said that 10 years ago this country was running a surplus, running a surplus, revenues exceeded expenses. Under Bill Clinton, revenues were exceeding expenses. But then there was a decision under the Bush administration to cut taxes. Okay. If revenues are exceeding expenses, then maybe that's okay. That cost us $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Then came the decision to prosecute two wars. He said to me that two wars cost us about $1 trillion, too, didn't it, Mr. Congressman? I said, Yeah. He said, Okay. Medicare 10 years ago was fine, revenues exceed expenses. Now we've got tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, $1 trillion dollars; two wars, $1 trillion; and then there was this big crash on Wall Street where we lost revenues and we had bigger expenses. That was a couple trillion dollars, wasn't it, sir? I said, Yeah, that's about right. And he said, So why--that turned our budget upside down. So now why are we focusing on Medicare? Why blame Medicare for $4 trillion of losses to the United States? It wasn't Medicare that is harming the financial success of this country. So why all the blame when this program really has been working for seniors for so long?
So I would say to my friends on the Republican side of the aisle, this is a program that my friends haven't liked since its inception. This is a program that Republicans haven't liked from its inception.
So to turn the target into Medicare and not say to have tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, that that should be part of the whole equation of balancing our budget, or taking away the incentives and all of the tax benefits for oil companies at $100 a barrel but say, no, we're going to focus on Medicare, in my opinion, that's just wrong.
I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
Reclaiming my time, I would say to my friend from Georgia, do you know what? If those tax benefits are taken away at $100 a barrel, we can put them into Medicare. We can use them to balance the budget. But I heard my other friend from Georgia say, well, this is what's causing the bankruptcy.
That is just not true. This country was running a surplus, for goodness sake, and Americans understand that. They know what got us into trouble financially, and it wasn't Medicare. So now to take it out of Medicare and just take it out of our senior citizens where a program is actually working, the goal of that program is so Americans could live longer, healthier lives in their senior years. It's working. But no, let's go blame that instead of the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. Let's forget about those wars and the cost to the country, and let's forget about the fact that we had a crash on Wall Street.
My friends on the Republican side of the aisle say: Hey, this is a perfect time to go after Medicare. We didn't like it before, we still don't like it; let's get it.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.