Message from U.S. Rep. Ron Kind: The President Cannot Fund Tax Cuts for the Wealthy on the Backs of Seniors

On Monday, February 4th, President Bush presented Congress with the final budget proposal of his presidency. The annual budget proposal, a blueprint for how the executive branch envisions spending money in the following year, is used by presidents to propose changes in policy, build support for new initiatives, and generally influence how Congress decides to allocate money to various federal agencies and programs. In short it is a reflection of the president’s priorities.

Given the importance of the budget proposal, I was disappointed and dismayed when I read the Bush Administration’s 2009 budget and its proposed Medicare cuts of more than half a trillion dollars ($556 billion) over the next ten years. These cuts would endanger seniors’ access to critical medical services in virtually every sector of care: doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, physical therapy, and more. Rural communities would be hit particularly hard, as Medicare funding is essential towards maintaining a stable safety net of healthcare services in these areas.

What’s more concerning is where the Administration would redirect this Medicare funding: towards paying for the extension of his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. In order to make these tax cuts permanent – a move that would benefit only the top one percent of wealthiest Americans but would cost more than $2.6 trillion over ten years – the Bush Administration would slash healthcare funding across the board, and in Medicare in particular. I believe that such a trade-off is reckless and morally unacceptable. I remain adamantly opposed and will join my colleagues in Congress in ensuring that the Administration’s budget proposal is rejected as we develop our own budget resolution.

Make no mistake: this country faces some very real and very difficult budget choices, and I do not believe that we can spend our way out of these challenges. However I cannot ask seniors to bear the burden of reckless fiscal policy and flatly disagree that the solution to this country’s budgetary problems is to dismantle one of this country’s most successful benefit programs.

Please join me and other members in opposing the Bush Administration’s proposed Medicare cuts. As always, do not hesitate to contact me or my staff with your thoughts, suggestions, and questions.

U.S. Rep. Ron Kind represents western Wisconsin and serves on the House Subcommittee with jurisdiction over Medicare funding. His office can be reached at 1-888-442-8040.