With all the talk surrounding the proposed GOP Tax bill, we have heard from the opposition that there is a cut to Medicare, while the supporters say there are no cuts to Medicare included in the bill.  Well, they are both technically correctly.  There is no provision in the current tax bill, H.R. 1, that cuts Medicare.  However, there is an Act, the Pay-As-You-Go Act or PAYGO, that was passed under the George H. W. Bush Administration that requires legislation that adds to the deficit automatically trigger budget cuts, increases in revenue or other changes.  Unfortunately, the current tax bill is likely to trigger more than $100 billion in cuts to the federal budget, including an immediate $25 billion cut to Medicare.  The remaining would come from a variety of different programs that are funded on a continuing basis but excluding social security and a few other programs.

Of course we do not want to see unnecessary increase of our deficit, but passage of a tax cut on the backs of seniors is simply unacceptable.  Yet again, we are are forcing our seniors and the disabled to pay the price for Congress’ inability to come to a real bipartisan solution.  There certainly must be more options than cutting taxes for the middle class OR cutting Medicare by 25 Billion.

We must work together to ensure that Congress waive the PAYGO Act if H. R. 1 is passed as is.