Your member of Congress is set to vote this week on a budget measure that proposes massive cuts to programs and services and huge tax breaks for rich people and corporations.
The House is expected to vote Thursday on the budget outline, which would slash spending by $5.7 trillion over 10 years. Gutting Medicaid, Medicare, public education, transportation, veterans’ services and other programs are all part of the plan.
The Senate is expected to take up its own budget measure soon.
The House budget outline also calls for raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67.
Meanwhile, millionaires, billionaires and big corporations would do just fine – they’ll be showered with tax cuts totaling $5 trillion.
AFSCME working and retiree members are especially worried about the cuts to health care in this proposal. Of particular concern are proposals to slash Medicare – the federal insurance program for retirees – and Medicaid – an insurance program for low-income and disabled people funded by the state and federal governments.
Though we defeated repeated attempts by this Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act and gut Medicaid, the budget measure would do both those things – and increase the number of uninsured Americans by 23 million by 2026.
The measure would end also Medicare as we know it by replacing the program’s guaranteed benefits with vouchers. Senior citizens could use these vouchers to buy insurance provided by Medicare or by private companies. However, the catch is these vouchers will buy decreasing amounts of coverage over time, which will shift more of the cost onto the beneficiaries.