Senator Tom Carper has a position on the Trump/Ryan plan to phase out Medicare (sort of)
While the Senator resist going on the record as being for or against the Trump/Ryan plan (which technically isn’t a fleshed out plan but an expressed desire to end Medicare) a Carper aide has provided me with this:
“Senator Carper does not support any effort to weaken the protections afforded by Medicare or Medicaid, which are critical safety net programs on which millions of Americans, including hundreds of thousands of Delawareans, depend for access to the high-quality health care they deserve. That includes fighting tooth and nail to protect the reforms we made to these programs in the Affordable Care Act, including expanding coverage through Medicaid, reducing prescription drug costs for our seniors, and expanding efforts to provide better preventive care for all Americans, but especially our children, the poor, the disabled and the elderly.”
I am gratified that Carper appears to be grouping the ACA and Medicare under an umbrella of protection and that he views our social safety net programs of something worth fighting for, and not leverage to use in some deficit-reducing “grand bargain” as he has in the past.
That small feeling of hope that Carper “gets it” is somewhat confirmed by his statement on Nomination of Rep. Tom Price as HHS Secretary:
“Over 100 million Americans and their families depend on Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health insurance provided through the Affordable Care Act for their health care. Preserving and improving these programs to ensure that all Americans have affordable access to the health care they need should be shared, bipartisan goals.
“That is why I am troubled that Congressman Price has championed significant proposals that show little regard for the most vulnerable members of our communities, including jeopardizing the guaranteed protections in our bedrock health care programs. At a time when my constituents tell me health care costs remain far too high, Congressman Price’s proposals stand in direct contrast to what most Americans need and want. I look forward to meeting Congressman Price and reviewing his nomination carefully based on his legislative initiatives in Congress, as well as his intentions and ability to preserve and strengthen Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and the Affordable Care Act moving forward.”
It is far too early to know if Carper is going to back up this kind of thing with an actual willingness to fight, but it is a step in the right direction. Which means, as commenters here like Jim C. have pointed out, it now falls to us to keep working to make sure Senator Carper is fully aware of how important this fight is to Delawareans and the nation.
Carper’s statement does not rule out Ryancare vouchers and block grants as a pretense of “preserving and improving” Medicare or Medicaid.
“Preserving and improving…” is Republican-speak for benefit cuts. The Democratic language is “expansion.” Ask Carper how to “save” Social Security and he will (euphemistically) tell you “benefit cuts.”
As we know, a press release from Carper does not always result in action that is in concert with the press release.
He bragged about co-sponsoring legislation providing justice to victims of sexual assault in the military and then voted against it. In one instance he cast the DECIDING vote against it.
In this case, he is already on record as being willing to barter away elements of Medicare and Social Security in exchange for some sort of ‘grand bargain’.
Keep up the heat because, in order for Carper’s words to mean anything, he would have to CHANGE his already-stated willingness to compromise on Medicare and Social Security. Until then, I will view this new statement as ‘Let’s shut these people up’.
As to Price, he will need to change the approach he took when Bush loaded two right-wingers on the Supreme Court. For those of you who have forgotten, he voted FOR cloture, thus ensuring that the nominees would get ‘up or down’ votes, then he voted no on the nominees themselves. Which, of course, didn’t matter, since the R’s controlled the chamber. We can’t have that here.
I agree with both of you. Carper has a track record that cannot be undone or forgotten about because of one statement. With his seniority, Carper is in a unique position to enable all of the GOP’s worst dreams and desires. We have to keep working on this.
Also – let’s not lose sight of the fact that this should have been an easy and quick “I oppose it.” It should not take so much time and effort to extract a hazy statement on something that should be automatic for any Dem.
If Carper wants to prove that he is on the right side in all of this he’ll have plenty of opportunities.
Thanks Jason. It IS our job remind our elected officials that they are not operating in a vacuum–we’re watching everything they do and will make sure that they know it. I’ll call each and everyone of our congress critters to let them know when I believe they’ve done something good and they sure as hell know that they’ll be hearing from me when they do something bad. And when they do that bad thing, they know it’s against their constituents better good, they’re just hoping you ain’t watching.
Keep letting them hear that YOU are paying attention.
Not Medicare, but Carper and Warren team up to ask the GSA to address COI that they may have with Trump.