WASHINGTON, D.C. – If the region’s Republican lawmakers get their way, major changes are in store for the nation’s historical safety nets for elderly and low-income citizens.
Before recessing for the next two weeks, the GOP-dominated U.S. House voted to overhaul Medicare and Medicaid on a party line vote of 235 to 193.
The GOP leadership failed to garner a single Democratic vote for their bill, but every Republican in Tennessee and Georgia supported it.
Members of the GOP claim the vote was about saving the country from an unsustainable financial burden imposed by the rising costs of Medicare.
“There’s a crisis here. You can’t sustain Medicare the way it is,” said Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., who is on the committee that drafted the controversial bill.