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SENIOR ALERT: Tennessee GOP Congressman tries to roll back Medicare with new bill

SENIOR ALERT: Tennessee GOP Congressman tries to roll back Medicare with new bill

SENIOR ALERT: Tennessee GOP Congressman tries to roll back Medicare with new bill

The White House has condemned a newly introduced GOP piece of legislation that would repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and devastate the social safety net currently in place for seniors, particularly Medicare.

The Inflation Reduction Act not only caps monthly insulin prices for seniors at $35 but allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies and limits out-of-pocket spending to $2000 a year for prescription drugs — but the Republican caucus wants to take it away.

“House Republicans are trying to slash lifelines for middle-class families on behalf of rich special interests,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. “Who on earth thinks that welfare for Big Pharma is worth selling out over a million seniors in their home state?”

Sponsored by first-term congressman Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), the proposal has gained the support of right-wing groups like the Koch-affiliated group, Americans for Prosperity.

The bill — introduced in mid-January — ultimately repeals the current Inflation Reduction Act and rescinds any unobligated financial balances.

Ogles dubiously and confusingly renamed his bill the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2023.”

The two-page proposed legislation fails to include any actual amendments or solutions to mitigate the high cost of life-saving prescription drugs.

As the debt-ceiling war rages on, Republicans have been steadfast in their commitment to hold the economy hostage while pushing their anti-social safety net agenda.

Social Security and Medicare are paid into by the people — for the people.

Those in the later years of their lives and careers, as well as the disabled, will undoubtedly be adversely affected if the bill manages to slip through congress.

Patrick Gaspard, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress, said in a statement that “It is vital that all Americans understand what is at risk if MAGA extremists succeed in passing their latest dangerous idea: millions of lost jobs, millions more without health insurance, and higher costs for lifesaving insulin, utilities, and more,”

“In less than a month, MAGA extremists have threatened to drive the economy into a recession by defaulting on our debt, promised to bring up a bill to impose a 30% national sales tax, and now have introduced legislation to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act.”

“This will cut taxes for corporations who earn billions in profit while empowering Big Pharma and Big Oil to continue ripping off the American people,” Gaspard added.

The Biden Administration has been adamant that Republican-proposed cuts to two of the country’s most important social safety net programs are not up for negotiation.

GOP attempts to use the debt ceiling as a bullying tactic to realize their decades-long end game of gutting social security are disingenuous, to say the least.

At least a quarter of the nation’s current debt was incurred during the previous administration – to the tune of $7.8 million – and raised at least three times in just four years.

Luckily, with Biden in the White House and Democrats in control of the Senate, Ogle’s Medicare-killing bill has little chance of becoming law.

Original reporting by Jake Johnson at Alternet.

Follow Ty Ross on Twitter @cooltxchick

Ty Ross
News journalist for Occupy Democrats.

© 2022 Occupy Democrats. All Rights Reserved.

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