Booing the kabuki

Republicans want to kill Medicare. And until recently, they weren't
shy about it—235 House Republicans voted to eliminate Medicare
outright.

But after facing heated criticism at town halls, they're changing
their tactics. Now, instead of attacking Medicare head-on, they're
using more reasonable-sounding proposals to disguise their plan to
eliminate Medicare—basically a hidden Medicare kill switch.

And unfortunately, some Democrats are helping them.

Democratic Sens. McCaskill, Manchin, and Mark Udall have all
endorsed spending caps that would actually trigger massive cuts to
Medicare within a few years—that's the Medicare kill switch.6
Republicans are going to try to force a Medicare kill switch into the
upcoming, must-pass bill to keep the U.S. from defaulting on its
debts, and bipartisan cover from Democrats helps them do that.

Can you call Sen. Durbin right now and tell him you're counting on him
to oppose spending caps that contain a Medicare kill switch?
Senator Dick Durbin
Phone: 202-224-2152

"Government spending cap" sounds much more reasonable than
"eliminating Medicare," which is why Republicans want to use the cap
to disguise the Medicare kill switch.

But the CAP Act, which Sen. McCaskill is co-sponsoring with Republican
Sen. Bob Corker, has been called "the second worst idea in
Washington."7 And an analysis from the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities found that it would "inevitably force enormous cuts in
Medicare, Medicaid, and possibly Social Security."8

Sen. Udall's plan is no better. And any Democrat who signs on to a
plan containing a Medicare kill switch is just giving Republicans the
bipartisan cover they need. Can you call Sen. Durbin right now and
tell him not to fall for the Republican tricks? We need him to oppose
any plan containing a Medicare kill switch.

Senator Dick Durbin
Phone: 202-224-2152


Thanks for all you do.
–Daniel, Amy, Michael, Eli, and the rest of the team