Skip to main content

Hochul calls on Congress to reject budget that 'decimates' medicare

By Howard B. Owens

Press release:

ERIE COUNTY – Kathy Hochul, candidate for New York’s 26th Congressional District, today called on Congress to reject Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) 2012 budget proposal that would end Medicare as we know it and challenged her opponents – Republican, Jane Corwin, and Tea Party-endorsed candidate, Jack Davis – to join her in rejecting the proposal. 

“There is no question that we must get our fiscal house in order by making substantial cuts to our budget. It’s time we start working towards reducing our national debt, but the House leadership’s plan to decimate Medicare cannot be the solution. Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), both of whom are coming to Western New York to fund raise for Jane Corwin, have lauded this proposal calling it, ‘The Path to Prosperity;’ noting that it ‘paves the way to a brighter future for all Americans.’ Well, if this budget were to be passed, I could only see a dismal future paved for millions of our seniors. Adding burdensome costs onto the backs of our elderly population cannot be the way we revive the financial health of this country. 

“Representative Ryan’s plan also makes across-the-board cuts in medical research, high-tech research, and education – making it more difficult for businesses to innovate, create jobs, and compete in the global market.  Instead of investing in America’s growing competitive edge, the Budget Committee Chairman wants to give tax breaks to corporations and the highest wage earners.

“Once elected, I will work to cut wasteful spending, without breaking the promises made to our seniors or making it more difficult for American families to hold onto their jobs.

“While neither Jane Corwin nor Jack Davis took a position on Congress’s budget compromise last week, I call on them to join me in letting the voters know how they would vote on this Draconian measure. The voters of the 26th District deserve to know the key differences between the candidates for this position.” 

Lorie Longhany

Even the reader's here on the Batavian rejected the part of Paul Ryan's budget that privatizes Medicare. http://thebatavian.com/howard-owens/todays-poll-would-you-support-chang…

Genesee County has an aging population. We can't leave our senior's health and wellness to the discretion of insurance carriers.

Medicare came to be because insurance companies don't want to take the risk of insuring older people with all their health issues. Dismantling a program that gives our aging population peace of mind is a radical idea that needs to be soundly rejected.

Apr 11, 2011, 5:16pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

30 vote difference out of over 700 is hardly a mandate from Batavian readers. I have so far been at least impressed with Kathy Hochuls independent thinking, but this press releases is right out of DNC headquarters. If I hear decimate and draconian one more time...at least come up with some new lingo.

Apr 11, 2011, 5:59pm Permalink
Bea McManis

Posted by Jeff Allen on April 11, 2011 - 5:59pm
.....but this press releases is right out of DNC headquarters.

Do you honestly believe that all of Corwin's. Davis' or any other candidate's press releases are home spun, scribbled on the back of the grocery list on their kitchen table?

If I hear decimate and draconian one more time...at least come up with some new lingo.
How about....
open contempt for anyone who isn’t wealthy; steroidal version of the Republican playbook; (Ryan is) a one-man death panel; political marker for the GOP; akin to a middle-class tax increase
They may not be original or new, but would you prefer them?

Apr 11, 2011, 6:29pm Permalink
Dave Olsen

"Do you honestly believe that all of Corwin's. Davis' or any other candidate's press releases are home spun, scribbled on the back of the grocery list on their kitchen table?"

Probably not, but Ian Murphy's may be

Apr 11, 2011, 6:37pm Permalink
Lorie Longhany

Jeff, I can assure you that the releases are most definitely NOT coming out of DNC headquarters. Kathy is her own person and she will not be dictated to by any entity. She is in total control of her message and her campaign. I'm glad that you're at least giving her a look. I think many independent voters who are paying attention are too.

I also will add that she is the only candidate getting out there and actually meeting and talking with small businesses and their customers across this district. She's dropped in to at least 6 businesses in Genesee alone in the past two weeks. And her visits to businesses in the other counties mirrors the same.

I agree with you that the 30 vote difference in the poll isn't scientific and isn't a mandate, but what it does say, is in this very conservative area, there are still more people than not that want Medicare to be left alone.

Apr 11, 2011, 6:44pm Permalink
Ed Gentner

Let's not forget Lincoln was said to have written the Gettysburg Address on the back of an envelope while riding on a train to deidicate and concentrate the battle field...so if Green Party candidate Ian Murphy wrote his response on the back of a grocery list it put's him in good company...Now as for a response to Republican Paul Ryan's budget, one can only hope that the the Republican Leader actually tries to pass it....and as for the Democrats, President Obama has said he is willing to look at cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, measns testing Social Security as part of a compromise solution while payind lip service to revamping a tax code that rewards the offshoring of American jobs and capital contributing to the biggest transfer of wealth in American History. The Democrats don't offer any deep cuts to military programs and the ersatz draft of National Guard and Military Reserves or a claw back of the treasure looted from pensions that caused the near collapse of our economy. Jack Davis is on record regarding preferential tax treatment of corporations that offshore jobs, and has been a loud voice calling for the end of military adventures and occupations paid for with American blood and treasure...As a matter of disclosure I wote this all on my own after examining Jack Davis's record. I will admit I have not asked about his stand on social security, medicare, and medicaid, however I doubt he would be a suppoter or Ryan's plan, and so far it doesn't look like Jane Corwin has said anything remotely related to it, not in public anyway.

Apr 11, 2011, 8:21pm Permalink
Daniel Jones

Edmund - I doubt that anyone running under a Tea Party banner would support Social Security and Medicare. Those groups have a fundamental ideological opposition to such programs.

Apr 11, 2011, 8:41pm Permalink
bud prevost

Daniel, speaking for myself, I have no opposition to SS, or gov't healthcare. I do have an issue with the grossly mismanaged, incompetent system we currently call the federal government. We need to pare it down to two primary responsibilities:
1. National defense and security
2. Basic healthcare for all.
Department of Education, Energy, and HUD can all be eliminated at the federal level. All other departments, except Defense and Human Services, can be streamlined to eliminate redundancies at the state and local level.

Apr 11, 2011, 8:57pm Permalink
Daniel Jones

Bud - I do not know if you consider yourself to be a part of the Tea Party movement, but if you do, I would think that you would be the exception rather than the general rule of thumb. In my response to Mr. Genter, however, I was referring to the people who run the tea party organization that endorsed him, they have shown that they are opposed to what they think is 'socialism' in any form.

http://teapartycoalitionwny.com/mission.html

Apr 11, 2011, 9:20pm Permalink
Ed Gentner

Mr. Jones,if you are going to post a link that implies it speaks for Jack Davis or any candidate it should at the very least be current and have that candidates name somewhere on it. Your above link does not ahve any mention of Davis or any one running in a current race, it is a recycled link to an old web site.

Apr 11, 2011, 10:12pm Permalink
Jeff Allen

Bea, everytime I say something about Kathy, you counter with Corwin and Davis, I've already made it clear neither are getting my vote. I have tried to give Kathy the benefit of the doubt on her independence and record as Erie County Clerk, but I have tried unsuccessfully to get her entire platform and all I get is generic links to her website that hasn't changed since it went up. I know that you will tell me that she is out meeting with the people, but in this digital age, I shouldn't have to work this hard just to get what every candidate running for national office should have readily available to her potential constituents.
Lorie, I don't think the poll indicates that people want Medicare left alone, it just means more people than not don't care for the voucher system. To surmise that majority of people want Medicare left alone would be absurd.

Apr 11, 2011, 10:20pm Permalink
C. M. Barons

After reading today's D & C, I would be hard-pressed to concede that concern over Medicaid/Medicare cuts comes 'right out of the DNC headquarters.' Sounds like Obama is finally feeling the pull of all those healthcare lobbyists who funneled the bucks to his election campaign. He's ready to place the cost of financial recovery on the elderly. He must have misread the cliche 'Golden Years.'

Apr 12, 2011, 2:32am Permalink
Daniel Jones

Edmund - That website is the official website of the Tea Party coalition of Western New York, the fact that they have not updated their candidates is not my problem, it is their website. The mission of the organization has not changed.

Apr 12, 2011, 11:52am Permalink

Authentically Local