WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today delivered the following remarks on the House Floor ahead of a vote on a bipartisan budget agreement reached by House and Senate leaders:
“First and foremost, this bill takes the important step of protecting the full faith and credit of the United States. We will pay our obligations not only to foreign bondholders, but to our citizens - whether veterans or our children - unlike the Republican Majority bill last week.
“It protects millions of seniors from a 50 percent increase in their monthly Medicare Part B premiums, and spreads out the cost of paying for the fix over a number of years.
“It ensures that all 11 million Americans that rely on Social Security Disability Insurance won’t see their benefits cut by 20 percent.
“It is fiscally responsible, while not undermining or changing the structure of vital programs in any way.
“It ensures in Social Security a uniform national process for disability evaluations, and closes a loophole used mostly by higher income individuals to receive higher Social Security benefits than intended.
“It regularizes payments in Medicare for care given in outpatient facilities.
“Finally, the agreement raises the spending caps for two years for domestic spending - not only for defense priorities as some have earlier proposed. That means that we can better fund critical domestic programs that were cut under sequestration, increasing support for education, health research, food safety, job training, and health care for veterans."
