Russ responds to cuts Medicare and Social s

Responding to your message
Thursday, July 21, 2011 8:32 AM


July 21, 2011





Dear Mr. R:



Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about potential cuts to Medicare and Social Security as part of a larger deficit reduction agreement. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.



Please know that I am committed to protecting Social Security and Medicare. These critical programs form the foundation for the retirements of millions of seniors. Social Security and Medicare are two of America's most successful and efficient government programs, and I will continue to fight to preserve these hard-won institutions.



The United States has had a statutory debt limit since 1917, and Congress has raised the debt limit several times since then, including ten times since 2001. Raising this limit is often a necessary step to ensure that America pays its bills and takes responsibility for its commitments.



Virtually all financial experts have made it clear that a failure to avoid a default crisis would create massive disruptions to the economy and risk economic catastrophe. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has reported that we will reach the debt limit in early August. Discussions about avoiding the default crisis are now being tied to larger deficit and budget reduction talks. In order to craft a long-term debt solution, the President and Congressional leaders are discussing many possible means of lowering our national debt and ensuring that we put America on a sustainable path forward.



Reducing the deficit and debt are important objectives that we should work towards over time. Cuts to valuable programs will be necessary as part of the national commitment needed to reduce the deficit, but we must target reductions on duplicative and wasteful programs while preserving essential investments that create jobs and lay the foundation for a more prosperous economy and not harming our fragile recovery.



If a compromise means that we must make changes to valuable programs, we must also eliminate tax breaks for wealthy individuals and corporations. Everyone must pay their share and we cannot balance the budget on the backs of seniors and the middle class.



Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind as Congress debates the budget and efforts to reduce the deficit.



I always appreciate hearing the views of constituents about issues facing Congress. Please feel free to contact my office if I can be of further assistance to you on this or any other matter of concern. I also hope you will find my website, carnahan.house.gov, a useful resource for keeping up with my work in Washington and the St. Louis region, and I welcome you to sign up for my e-newsletter at carnahan.house.gov/updates.

Sincerely,

Russ Carnahan

reply from Carnahan on budget, social security, medicare

July 8, 2011


Dear Mr. R:

Thank you for contacting me to share your concerns about the budget proposal recently released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you know, Chairman Ryan's proposal would make a number of dramatic changes to the way our government functions. It would fundamentally change Medicare, shifting the costs of health onto seniors who have worked hard throughout their lives with the promise of quality health insurance in old age. Medicaid, which provides basic health insurance for children, the disabled, and the poor, would also be fundamentally altered. Eliminating these key pieces of the social safety net will do nothing to strengthen our economy or our society, and I firmly oppose these ideas.

The Budget Committee plan would go even further as well. Currently, government functions account for about 23% of the national economy, measured as GDP. Chairman Ryan's proposal would eventually limit government to merely 15% of GDP, meaning that the government could invest less in infrastructure repair and schools or adapt to meet changing circumstances.

Just as important as the essential programs like Medicare and Medicaid that this budget proposal does cut are the items it does not cut – tax breaks for those who need them least. Simply allowing the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire, as I voted to do last year, would significantly reduce the deficit, allowing for key investments in education, transportation, and health care. Unfortunately, Chairman Ryan's proposal would extend rather than end these irresponsible tax cuts.

Reducing the deficit and debt are important objectives that we should work towards over time. While cuts to valuable programs will be necessary to reduce the deficit, we must target reductions on duplicative programs while preserving essential investments that create jobs and lay the foundation for a more prosperous economy. If we must make cuts to valuable programs, we must also be willing to achieve balance by eliminating tax breaks for individuals and corporations that need assistance the least.

Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind as Congress debates the budget and efforts to reduce the deficit.

I always appreciate hearing the views of constituents about issues facing Congress. Please feel free to contact my office if I can be of further assistance to you on this or any other matter of concern. I also hope you will find my website, carnahan.house.gov, a useful resource for keeping up with my work in Washington and the 3rd District of Missouri, and I welcome you to sign up for my e-newsletter at carnahan.house.gov/updates.

Sincerely,

Russ Carnahan

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Russ lost his district next time thru gop redistricting in Missouri

bipartisan ship: my dying rear end

anti carnahan vid

Some of the opponents of the Carnahan family have put out a new political vid.

Might be a bit offensive to some, but dirty politics in Missouri is not new. One hopes the local Move-On folks will respond with their own version of Mr Blunt.
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More attack on Carnahan

This is a sign of things to come, right wing nutjobs attacking representatives and senators. Not only on healthcare, but every issue. Russ Carnahan is among the first this summer to be targeted. Others are targeted this summer during the August recess of congress.

Look for the media who reports nothing about single-payer to show the "right" wing side of the healthcare/economic arguments. That is my prediction and I hope to be proven wrong.

By the way, the disruption at Forest Park college had almost no reporting in St. Louis. Cops were called by the way.

Note: the first snip is copyrighted materials from the Rush Limbaugh's show. I shall remove if objections made by holder of copyright.

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