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    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
    February 5, 2007

    CONTACT:
    Pamela Causey 202/216-8378
    Kim Wright 202-216-8414


    “Once again, President Bush has offered a budget with deep cuts in entitlement programs, subsidies for industry and tax cuts for the wealthy. Seniors and their families can not continue to be expected to foot the bill for record debt, an unfunded war and tax cuts.”…Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO

    The President Delivers his Budget…America’s Seniors Will Receive the Bill

    Former Congresswoman Kennelly says Congress should consider this budget dead on arrival


    President Bush is asking older Americans to foot the bill for the administration’s economic policy of tax cuts for the wealthy and deficit spending. The White House’s proposed budget includes billions of dollars in Medicare cuts, increased costs for seniors through means testing and Social Security private accounts.

    Following are some of the provisions in the President’s 2008 Budget harmful to seniors:

    · $78 billion in cuts from Medicare and Medicaid over 5 years

    · Social Security Private Accounts established in 2012 and price indexing of benefits

    · Medicare means-testing will continue to target seniors. More than 30,000 seniors are predicted to be driven out of Medicare in the first year alone

    At the same time:

    · Medicare will continue to provide billions in industry subsidies

    · $1.9 trillion in tax cuts are proposed over the next decade, a significant amount going to wealthy Americans

    · The Congressional Budget Office, using alternate economic assumptions, predicts the budget deficit would remain at $328 billion in 2012

    “America’s seniors support returning budget discipline to Congress, because they know this massive federal debt threatens critical programs like Medicare and Social Security. But this is not a budget crafted with an eye toward bi-partisanship, fairness or even common sense. As baby-boomers retire we should be strengthening not dismantling the programs they’ll depend on."

     

    The National Committee is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that acts in the interests of its membership through advocacy, education, services, grassroots efforts and the leadership of the board of directors and professional staff. The work of the National Committee is directed toward developing a secure retirement for all Americans.