Pelosi Downplays Potential Impact Of Medicare On 2012

By Philip Bunnell

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urged Democrats today not to read too much into the impact House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) Medicare plan may have had on the special election held in New York’s 26th district.

“This is an issue that emerged in this district,” Pelosi told reporters during her weekly briefing. But, she said, “every race is a different one.”

Ryan’s plan, which essentially transforms Medicare from a guaranteed benefit for seniors into a system in which seniors would receive federal subsidies to purchase private health plans, has been widely credited for helping underdog Kathy Hochul (D) upset her Republican opponent, Jane Corwin. Pelosi acknowledged that Hochul likely secured her victory by taking advantage of Corwin’s steadfast support of the plan.

“When that door opened on Medicare, [Hochul] walked right through it, and saw the connection between increasing costs to seniors while giving tax breaks to big oil,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said that instead of cutting Medicare, Republicans should support Democratic efforts to repeal tax breaks on the largest oil companies, a measure that would generate $21 billion in savings over the next decade. Though Democrats have failed to produce a budget plan of their own, they’ve argued that ending the tax breaks is a good first step toward reducing the deficit.

“If we were serious about reducing the deficit in a balanced way, we would start with the obvious… subsidies for Big Oil,” said Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Wednesday. “”Balancing” the budget should not be about providing subsidies to Big Oil while ending Medicare as we know it.”