Washington, D.C. — In response to Republican presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s attempt to distract from his party’s plan to end Medicare with the false claim that President Barack Obama robbed the program, Counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund Neera Tanden issued the following statement:
We welcome a serious policy discussion in this campaign, but that kind of a debate requires honesty from both sides. Right out of the gate, the Romney-Ryan ticket has failed that threshold test with its latest dishonest attack on the Affordable Care Act. As both Gov. Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) know, the Affordable Care Act takes the savings in Medicare and uses it to expand benefits for seniors and close the prescription drug donut hole while strengthening Medicare overall and extending its solvency.
By contrast, the Romney-Ryan plan takes the exact same $700 billion in savings from Medicare but uses the money to pay for new tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. On top of that, Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan want to turn Medicare into a voucher program that shifts costs to seniors. Under the Romney-Ryan plan, Mitt Romney would pay less than a 1 percent tax rate but seniors would pay $6,000 more each year for their health care. The facts are clear: Only one ticket is proposing to end Medicare as we know it and that’s the Romney-Ryan ticket.
Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan’s false and disingenuous attacks mark an inauspicious start for a political team that likes to make claims about integrity and seriousness.
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