McCaskill: I won't stand for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

(From Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-MO)

I've been committed to fighting for Missouri seniors since day one, fighting efforts to privatize Social Security and working to ensure scam artists are held accountable for trying to defraud seniors.

But there's more work to do -- because it seems like every time we turn our heads folks are looking for any way possible to cut, undermine, or weaken the benefits Missouri seniors have earned.

So I'm pushing for new rules to prohibit cuts to Medicare and Medicaid: this legislation wouldprevent Congress from using partisan tricks to increase the Medicare eligibility age, turn Medicaid into a voucher system, or institute caps limiting benefits.

Millions of Missourians rely on these critical benefits to get basic healthcare -- and cuts to Medicare or Medicaid would leave Missouri's most vulnerable out in the cold. I won't stand for it.

I also introduced new legislation to fix a glaring problem that's only getting worse: seniors being pushed into poverty due to their Social Security benefits being garnished to pay back old student loan debts. This practice undermines the entire promise of Social Security -- and it's not right. My new bill would ensure that when the federal government recoups defaulted student loan debts, it does not send seniors below the federal poverty line.

I know just how many seniors, mothers, children, and disabled Missourians rely on these critical benefits to survive -- and I know we should be focused on strengthening these programs instead of looking for any opportunity to cut, undermine, or destroy them.

I know I'm not alone in wanting the best for Missouri's seniors, present and future. I won't stand for cuts to critical benefits that support them -- and I won't stop fighting for our seniors.