With tough re-election battles brewing, GOP Senators attempting to hide their records of voting to end Medicare as we know it
As budget negotiations begin today, vulnerable Republican Senators up for re-election in 2016 are running scared from their records of voting to end Medicare as we know it.
The House budget includes the radical Ryan proposal to transform Medicare into a voucher program, and Republicans like Rob Portman, Kelly Ayotte, Pat Toomey, Mark Kirk, Richard Burr and Roy Blunt are trying to trick voters and hide their long records of supporting the Ryan proposal.
The Hill notes that Republicans “are not excited about jumping into a battle with Democrats over a sensitive entitlement program ahead of the election,” but these Republican Senators have already made their support for the radical Ryan proposal clear by voting for it… more than once. And just last month, every vulnerable Republican Senator opposed a budget amendment that would protect Medicare from being turned into a voucher program.
“Vulnerable Republican Senators think they can trick voters to forget their votes in support the Ryan budget proposal, but the jig is up,” said Sadie Weiner, DSCC National Press Secretary. “These Republican Senators have already been on the record supporting the dangerous Ryan plan more than once. Despite their best efforts to obfuscate their support for ending Medicare as we know it, they will have to answer to voters in 2016 and own up to the reckless budget cuts they support.”
BACKGROUND:
ROB PORTMAN: Portman Voted For The Ryan Budget Three Times. [Vote 46, 3/21/13; Vote 98, 5/16/12; Vote 77, 5/25/11]
Portman: “Congressman Ryan’s budget Plan Is A Substantive Proposal” That Will Cut Spending In Part By “Tackling Entitlement Reform.” [U.S. Senator Rob Portman, Press Release, 4/5/11]
KELLY AYOTTE: Ayotte Voted For The Ryan Budget Three Times. [Vote 46, 3/21/13; Vote 98, 5/16/12; Vote 77, 5/25/11]
Ayotte Said Ryan Plan Was An Example Of “Leadership” On The Budget, Said It Put “Us On A Sustainable Path, Addressing The Rising Costs Of Medicare.”[Washington Post, 2chambers, 5/23/11]
PAT TOOMEY: Toomey Voted For The Ryan Budget Three Times. [Vote 46, 3/21/13; Vote 98, 5/16/12; Vote 77, 5/25/11]
Toomey Introduced Budget Proposal That Adopted “The Longer Term Medicare Changes In The Ryan Budget” That Would Turn Medicare Into A Voucher Program And Increase Costs For Seniors. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 5/9/12]
MARK KIRK: Kirk Voted For The Ryan Budget Two Times. [Vote 46, 3/21/13; Vote 77, 5/25/11]
RICHARD BURR: Burr Voted For The Ryan Budget Three Times. [Vote 46, 3/21/13; Vote 98, 5/16/12; Vote 77, 5/25/11]
2012: Burr Unveiled His Own Medicare Voucher Plan, Similar To The Ryan Plan. [Associated Press, 2/16/12]
- National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare: Burr’s Plan “Doubled Down On Congressman Ryan’s Voucher Plan Offering What Appears To Be The Same Failed Privatization Approach To Medicare Reform.” [National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, 2/16/12]
ROY BLUNT: Blunt Voted For The Ryan Budget Three Times. [Vote 46, 3/21/13; Vote 98, 5/16/12; Vote 77, 5/25/11]
Blunt On Ryan Plan’s Medicare Cuts: “Not A Radical Idea.” [Real Clear Politics, 5/17/11]
Portman, Ayotte, Toomey, Kirk, Burr And Blunt Voted Against Preventing Medicare From Being Privatized Or Turned Into A Voucher Program. [Vote 90, 3/25/15]
