Republican plans to destroy Medicare run aground; leadership cries "Full steam ahead!" anyway

Republican members of Congress across the country have been getting an earful from constituents on their plan to gut Medicare, the health care plan for America's seniors.

The public expressions of displeasure have even reached Arizona.

From an AP article by Paul Babington, via Philly.com -

Robert Howarth, a Republican-turned-Democrat in Arizona, urged freshman Republican Rep. David Schweikert to find "other ways" besides the House-backed plan.


"We don't have to gut Medicare and go after the poor people on disability and Medicare," Howarth said at Schweikert's spirited town hall in Tempe, Ariz. "The millionaires and billionaires are not paying their fair share, like they used to," he said.

Howarth noted there was a strong economy and federal budget surplus during a time of higher tax rates in Bill Clinton's presidency.

The national pushback was so strong and nearly-universal that the Republicans have, backed off from their plans.  For now, anyway.

While temporarily heartening, the GOP leadership has already reiterated their threats against America's seniors, all in the name of "balancing the budget."

Of course, affirming their intent to gut Medicare only a couple of days after all but two of them voted to protect taxpayer subsidies to the most profitable industry in history only serves to illustrate the authenticity of their interest in "balancing" the budget.

The AP article quoted above, while written and published days before the Protect Big Oil vote, had a rather prescient line -

In an interview, Schweikert said he has talked with "market makers" who told him "we're going to punish you" if Congress doesn't make huge strides in reducing the deficit.

It's clear that Schweikert and his fellow Republicans in Congress may have the job title of "representative."

It's also clear that they have neither intent nor even interest in "representing" the people of their districts.