Skip to main content

Congressman Garamendi Criticizes Dangerous GOP Plan to Privatize Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

February 3, 2010

Seniors’ Bedrock Retirement and Health Benefits
too Important to Expose to Whims of Wall Street

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek, CA), California’s first elected Insurance Commissioner, today issued the following statement after prominent Congressional Republicans revealed an "alternative budget" that seeks to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid:

"I believe that everyone should retire with dignity, and I am very alarmed by the proposal put forth by the Republican members of the House Budget Committee, who apparently want to throw millions of seniors into the shark tank that created the near collapse of our economy. It’s important that Congress repudiate this dangerous plan immediately. Millions of seniors depend on Social Security and Medicare to provide them with their retirement and health care needs, and this proposal amounts to an astounding cut in health benefits and fiscal security. Our seniors are too important to expose to the rollercoaster fluctuations of Wall Street."

Issues:Healthcare