Taking Away Medicare to Give More Taxpayer Money to Big Oil

Media Matters for America

All in one day on Capitol Hill, House Republicans voted for the Romney-Ryan-Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it and Senate Republicans voted to protect $24 billion in tax giveaways for Big Oil.

Core Message:

Here they go again—taking away Medicare to give more taxpayer money to Big Oil.

Connect: After a lifetime paying into Medicare, our seniors deserve the peace of mind to know they can count on the health care they're owed.

Define: Washington Republicans don't get it. Instead of strengthening Medicare, they keep trying to take it away. Instead of getting rid of taxpayer handouts to Big Oil, they want more of them.

Illustrate: Nothing's new—yet again Congressional Republicans voted to end Medicare as we know it to pay for more tax handouts for their Big Oil campaign donors.

Contrast: Americans want their leaders to preserve Medicare for their retirement and for future generations—not give handouts to millionaires and oil companies.

Connect the dots: When you're standing at the gas pump, remember—Republicans refuse to ask oil company CEOs to give up their tax giveaways, but demand we give up Medicare we pay into with every paycheck.

Attacks and Responses

Claim: "The GOP budget tackles our generation's defining challenges and doesn't hide from tough decisions."

Response:

• They talk tough on deficits, but the latest GOP budget would actually make the debt worse. They talk about making tough decisions, but their budget is only tough on struggling Americans.
• This comes down to our national priorities. Do we really want an America where more gets taken from seniors and working families just so the richest few who bankroll politicians can pay less?
• Actually, the GOP plan would mean that by 2050, our federal government won't exist aside from Social Security, health care and defense—that's not the kind of country Americans want to leave for our kids and grandkids.

Claim: "The House GOP budget heroically and gutsily takes on entitlement spending."

Response:

• Letting seniors go bankrupt and taking food away from vulnerable children to avoid asking your wealthy campaign donors to pay their fair share? That's cowardly.
• Courage is standing up to the wealthy and powerful special interests funding their campaigns—but Washington Republicans won't do it. They actually want more giveaways for the 1 percent.
• Do we really want America led by politicians who'll show courage only when their corporate campaign donors give them permission?

Claim: "The GOP budget spurs economic growth with bold tax reform."

Response:

• We tried trickle-down economics and all we've got to show for it are massive deficits, scarce jobs and a shrinking middle class.
• The GOP plan would throw millions of Americans out of work, take money out of the pockets of regular Americans, and give up on investments that make America competitive in the world.
• Tax giveaways for the richest 1 percent don't get the economy moving or create jobs because millionaires and billionaires don't need or spend the money—they just hand it over to their hedge fund managers.

What You Need to Know:

• The GOP budget would actually make the debt worse by giving $3 trillion in tax handouts to corporations and the richest few—giving millionaires over $250K more in tax giveaways on top of the over $100K they'd get from the Bush tax cuts.
• In the last six years, Republicans got 7 out of 10 Congressional campaign dollars spent by corporations that benefit the most from tax loopholes passed by those politicians.
• At the same time, the GOP budget would end Medicare as we know it, throw millions of Americans off their health insurance, and cut more than $1 trillion from programs like school lunches that vulnerable families rely on.
• Seventy percent of Americans, including the majority of Republicans, want to keep Medicare as it is today, instead of replacing it with coupons as the House GOP and Mitt Romney have proposed.
• The Senators who voted yesterday to protect $24 Billion in giveaways to Big Oil have received $24 Million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry over their careers.
• Since 2011, Senate Republicans have voted seven times to protect their Big Oil campaign donors and against clean energy three times.

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