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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) voted “no” on the passage of H.R. 1868, “Democrats’ Medicare Cuts,” which passed the House.

Under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010, legislation that increases mandatory spending triggers automatic cuts to Medicare and other programs to offset deficit spending. The Democrats’ $1.9T “COVID relief” bill triggers cuts to Medicare year-over-year for the next decade – including a cut of $36 billion beginning in 2022.

Today, House Democrats presented a false choice of cutting seniors’ Medicare or waiving PAYGO. Republicans identified multiple options for avoiding Medicare cuts by clawing back wasteful spending in their COVID bill that has nothing to do with the pandemic, such as benefits to illegal immigrants and prisoners, funding for Arts and Humanities, and exorbitant bailouts for union pensions and states who were mismanaged long before COVID.  

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO OF HIS FLOOR SPEECH

Remarks as Delivered:

Democrats did not offer any hand of bipartisanship in this ram and jam job on the $2 trillion bailout bill. They even lost Democrats on it. They didn't work with us. It was a pure partisan play and there's a reason for that. It's mostly unrelated to COVID. It is bailout galore. It is a wish list of the liberals in this House. They just pushed it through and called it, in disguise, COVID relief. But the fundamental principle we're talking about today is PAYGO.  This is a law passed by Democrats, signed by Democrat president that says fundamentally American people understand this. If you spend beyond your means, you got to find a way to pay for it, got to offset it, or you go into debt. The American people, they don't pay their bills, Mr. Speaker, they get their water turned off or their electricity turned off. The IRS will hunt them down, put them in jail. If they don't pay their taxes, they'll have their mortgage foreclosed, their cars repossessed. That's what happens to the American people when they don't pay their bills. President Obama, when he signed the law, said “You can't spend a dollar unless you cut a dollar elsewhere.” I agree with him. Ms. Pelosi, our speaker, gave a speech and she gave glowing points as she embraced wholeheartedly and full throatedly this PAYGO. She said it's important for fiscal soundness to our children and grandchildren. She said, “Who could oppose this great idea?” She went on to say “This is an investment in our children's future must be paid for or else we're heaping a debt onto our children.” Thirty trillion almost and counting thirty trillion. Who's going to pay for that? Not us. Not you. Not us. Our kids are going to pay for it. These are Ms. Pelosi's words, Mr. Speaker, this pay-as-you-go is part of a blueprint for fiscal responsibility, subjecting spending to the harshest scrutiny, every federal dollar that it must be subject to scrutiny to make sure taxpayers get their money's worth. Bailing out union pensions, giving city and state money, who horribly mismanaged their business prior to COVID, giving people more money to be on unemployment than they made in their previous job, paying people who are not economically harmed in this COVID disaster. All of these things, there is a litany of wasteful, irresponsible and unnecessary spending, hundreds of billions of dollars. He says every dollar is going to be scrutinized or are we going to stick it to our seniors? We're going to stick it to our kids, that that is a profile in courage, if I ever saw one. Now, that is the leadership that made this country great. Mr. Speaker, these are Ms. Pelosi's words, not mine. But I agree with her. We have an opportunity here to do the right thing by our children to offset the spending here in this $2 trillion bailout with the wasteful spending that is in there. And I gave you a list. Mr. Speaker, I plead with you and I plead with my colleagues, offset this and do right by our kids and their future in this country. And I yield back.

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