Senate Dems Call On GOP To Abandon Ryan Medicare Plan
Talking Points Memo – With Republicans on the ropes when it comes to defending their proposal to privatize Medicare, a group of Senate Democrats is hoping to deliver a body blow to GOP plans to push for the proposal in talks about reducing the nation’s spiraling debt.
Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) on Monday called for Republicans to take Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan for Medicare off the table in ongoing bipartisan deficit-reduction talks.
“We owe it to our children and our grandchildren to pay down the debt but not at the expense of our seniors’ healthcare,” Brown told reporters on a conference call. “Ending Medicare as we know it should not be part of our debt-reduction negotiations.”
Ryan’s Medicare proposal has sparked a backlash with the public and has been roundly panned in national polls. Some Republicans are already distancing themselves from the plan, but GOP leaders and most of the party’s presidential contenders remaining strongly committed to it.
