Republicans are once again going for the throat when it comes to Medicare. According to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office, the proposed Republican tax plan would mean a devastating $25 billion in cuts to Medicare. The Hill has the details:
The tax bill will add an estimated $1.5 trillion to the deficit over a decade. Congressional “pay-as-you-go” rules, called pay-go, require that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) automatically cut mandatory spending if legislation increases the deficit beyond a certain point.
“Without enacting subsequent legislation to either offset that deficit increase, waive the recordation of the bill’s impact on the scorecard, or otherwise mitigate or eliminate the requirements of the [pay-go] law, OMB would be required to issue a sequestration order within 15 days of the end of the session of Congress to reduce spending in fiscal year 2018 by the resultant total of $136 billion,” CBO wrote on Tuesday.
Medicare can only be cut by a maximum of 4 percent through the pay-go rules, however, which amounts to $25 billion in cuts.
Making such drastic cuts to Medicare at the same time that an estimated 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day, when Medicare costs are expected to double? It is dereliction of duty by a Republican Congress and it has to be stopped. Call your elected representatives today and tell them to reject this Republican tax plan that rewards extreme wealth and hurts the middle class.