Congresswoman Duckworth Gives Floor Speech Opposing the Ryan Budget and Defending the Guaranteed Benefit of Medicare

Click here for video of her remarks.

The text of her remarks:

• Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend my remarks.
• The Ryan budget once again places the burden of deficit reduction on working Americans, while failing to stop the frivolous spending subsidies for oil and gas companies that costs the American people billions of dollars a year.
• I am especially concerned that the Ryan budget will end the guarantee of Medicare for hardworking Americans who have paid into it.
• Medicare was created precisely because the private market failed to provide seniors with affordable and quality health care.
• Even if senior citizens are able to find decent health insurance, they would still have to pay $1,000 more a year for prescription drugs after the Ryan budget reopens the donut hole. Overall their budget will force seniors to pay $59,500 more in health costs during their retirement. 
• My neighbors, who work so hard to pay their mortgage and send their kids to college, can’t afford to spend another $59,500 more.
• Rather than ramming through a partisan budget that will never become law, I encourage Congress to work together on a budget that can preserve Medicare, reduce the deficit, and grow our economy.
• I yield back.