Matt Gunterman July 9th, 2008

Yes, indeed, folks, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has an excellent plan to pump more money into the pockets of rich folk: let old people die. You see, the less old people there are, then the less those nasty entitlement programs like “Medicare” are needed. So, when all the non-rich grandma’s in the U.S. are dead, we can take the savings and give even bigger tax cuts to rich Americans, whose patriotism is to their bank accounts and who can then buy homes number seven and eight like Sen. Old Fart who’s running for president on the Republican side.

Here’s a new advertisement and press release from Americans United for Change on McConnell’s new “Operation Wither Grandma”:

Click here to listen to: Why does Mitch McConnell want grandma to die?

Washington D.C. – Late last month, 39 Senate Republicans, including Roger Wicker (R-MS) and minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) managed to block by a single vote the ‘Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act’ - critical and urgently needed legislation that will prevent a 10.6% pay-cut to doctors and thereby ensure the disabled and seniors on Medicare have access to the doctor they know and trust. A cut in payments could lead to doctors across the country refusing to see some of the 42 million seniors and people with disabilities who depend on these doctors and Medicare for their care and prescriptions. The Senate will re-vote on the same measure today, and if Senate Republicans once again stand in the way and the cuts go through, 60 percent of doctors will likely drop Medicare patients, according to the American Medical Association.

In advance of the vote, Americans United for Change launched an aggressive radio ad blitz in the Jackson and Tupelo, Mississippi and the Lexington and Louisville media markets today that urges Senators McConnell and Wicker to change course and put seniors first. Despite the bill receiving broad bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives, passing by a 355-59 margin, Senator McConnell and Wicker stood in the way at the behest of President Bush and the big insurance companies. McConnell has taken $817,757 and Wicker has taken $173,004 in campaign contributions from the insurance industry, according to OpenSecrets.org.

“After receiving overwhelming bipartisan support in the U.S. House, this critical and urgently needed legislation fell just one vote shy of moving forward when Senator Roger Wicker and Obstructionist-in-Chief Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Bush-Republicans decided they were more interested in their loyalty to the President and insurance companies than standing up for seniors, people with disabilities, pharmacists and doctors,” said Jeremy Funk, of Americans United for Change, which has been working to eliminate wasteful insurance company subsidies under the Medicare Advantage program. Cuts to such subsidies, in part, would have been used to prevent cuts to physicians’ reimbursements under Medicare that are still scheduled to take place this month thanks to Republican obstructionism. “Their obstructionism was a microcosm of the Bush-Republican Legacy: put the corporate interests first and everyone else be damned. Of course, after eight years where Bush-Republicans have tried every maneuver to dismantle the safety net for seniors – from the failed effort to privatize Social Security, to the giveaways to big Pharma in the Medicare prescription drug program – should anyone really be surprised?”

“Senator Wicker, McConnell and the rest will get one more shot to do the right thing today. The question is – this time, will they stand with seniors, people with disabilities, pharmacists and doctors — or with Bush and the insurance companies which have put us in this healthcare mess in the first place.”

• Mitch McConnell
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