Preventing Paygo Sequestration

Floor Speech

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Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, today, we are addressing a problem that didn't even exist a week ago. It did not even exist last week.

The Republicans stood on this floor and argued against the $1.9 trillion partisan package last week. There were many reasons to oppose it, but one of the most significant reasons was the fact that the bill would trigger cuts to Medicare and other essential programs.

We argued that it would harm all of our constituents. I argued that it would harm my constituents in Georgia to my friend, my fellow delegation member. This bill penalized the State of Georgia more than any State in the United States. More than any State in the Nation, Georgia was punished. We lost $1.3 billion because of the funding formula. We didn't shut down our State, and we didn't destroy our economy, and the funding was based on the unemployment rate and not population.

Where did that $1.3 billion go? It went to blue States. It went to California, and it went to New York. Georgian taxpayers' money went to other States; it went to blue States.

What did it do to Medicare in the State of Georgia? We lost $11.5 billion that would have gone to the seniors on Medicare in the State of Georgia.

Where did it go? Again, it went to California, and it went to New York. It went to the blue States. It went to the States that shut down their businesses and destroyed their economies. Yet, the bill was pushed forward anyway.

This could have all been avoided altogether. We could have crafted a bipartisan package that would not have triggered these Medicare cuts. Instead, those across the aisle resorted to forcing a bill through reconciliation. In the end, they passed a package filled with political favors on the back of our seniors.

Again, this could have been avoided. But today, we need to fix this for our constituents who are recognizing we have a spending problem.

Now that the largest stimulus bill in our history has been signed into law, our deficit for the year will also break records. We are now projected to have a Federal deficit of $3.4 trillion, and debt as a share of our GDP will be at 100 percent for only the second time in our country's history.

My colleagues have shown little regard for actually paying for this reckless spending for political favor. That is why I urge my colleagues to find a way to pay for restoring the cuts to Medicare. The first place I suggest looking for it is in the over 90 percent of the last package that will not go to addressing the pandemic.

Mr. Speaker, this is wrong, and my colleagues know it is wrong. Let's get this fixed.

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