WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) today released the following statement on the 2017 Medicare Trustees Report and 2017 Social Security Trustees Report:
“Today’s Medicare Trustees Report confirms that Medicare is strong and continues to provide high-quality health care to millions of seniors and Americans living with disabilities. As the report points out, thanks to the Affordable Care Act and MACRA, the life of the Medicare Trust Fund was extended by more than a decade. Democrats will continue to stand up for beneficiaries, oppose Republican efforts to privatize and cut Medicare, and work to strengthen and secure the program for future generations.
“Today’s Social Security Trustees Report shows continued stability for Social Security - whose benefits Americans earn through their hard work every day. Social Security is critical to Americans’ economic security and we should be working on a bipartisan basis to further strengthen it, not make drastic and arbitrary cuts. That’s why I will continue to oppose President Trump’s budget, which called for cuts of more than $60 billion from Social Security. And in Congress, I’ll continue to push back against our Social Security Subcommittee Chairman’s plan to cut benefits for middle class retirees by 30 percent or more. Despite how Republican proposals make it seem, Social Security is not some government handout - it’s a benefit that hardworking Americans earn."
