The Senate has just killed the House’s Paul Ryan budget plan, by a vote of 57-40, just one day after a Democrat won a Republican stronghold House seat in Western New York. The anti-seniors bill would have privatized Medicare, and reduced payments of everything from Medicaid to food stamps to college Pell grants.
Medicare has been protecting seniors since President Johnson signed it into law in 1965.
“Last night’s results provide clear evidence that when voters learn about the Republican plan, ending Medicare as we know it, they say, ‘no,’†said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “This is a red district, and Republicans were expected to win, but everything changed once that conversation turned to Medicare.â€
“Their Republican, radical proposal would end Medicare as we know it,” added Murray. “We’re not going to stop talking about this in states across the country.”
Five Senate Republicans joined all Senate Democrats to vote against the Ryan budget. Scott Brown (R-MA) was the first Republican to announce he would not vote for the bill. Susan Collins (R-ME) announced today she would not vote for it. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AL), and Rand Paul (R-KY) also voted against the bill.
(image: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Medicare Bill at the Harry S. Truman Library, July 30, 1965, with former President Harry Truman)