Lawmakers continue Medicare plan posturing

While some Republican lawmakers defend their votes in support of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's budget blueprint that includes a revamp of Medicare, some Democrats make clear their intent to protect the program.

ABC News: Rep. Price: Medicare Push Not 'Smart Thing Politically' But 'Right Thing To Do'
Republican House leaders are continuing to stand by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, even as Democrats vow to make it an issue in races nationwide next year. Asked if voting for the plan was a mistake, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., told us on ABC's "Top Line" today that he doesn't think it was a mistake to support major changes to a program that's on a track toward bankruptcy. "What the American people want and understand is that we've got to have something different than business as usual," said Price, who serves on the House Ways and Means and the Budget committees (Klein, 5/31).

CNN: (Video) Rep. Steve Israel: 'We Will Not Negotiate The End Of Medicare'
Congress heads back to Capitol Hill today, with a debate over Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan and a vote in the House on the debt ceiling expected to occur this week. This morning, Representative Steve Israel (D-NY), Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, joins the AM anchors to discuss the hard choices both political parties have to make to fix the national deficit problem (5/31).

Arizona Republic: Medicare A Thorn For GOP
Congressional Democrats knew they were in trouble last election season when angry constituents began showing up at town-hall meetings to question their support for the controversial health-care-reform bill championed by President Barack Obama. It got so contentious that then-Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Ariz., famously walked out of her own constituent event, leaving peeved residents to shout, "You're our employee!" Republicans harnessed that anger to help defeat Kirkpatrick and scores of other Democrats throughout the nation. Now, Republicans are the ones being confronted with disgruntled constituents, who are upset about the GOP plan to dramatically overhaul Medicare , a popular health-insurance program for senior citizens. In 2022, under a GOP plan crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., seniors on Medicare would begin receiving a set amount of money to buy private health insurance that would replace the government's Medicare program (Kelly, 05/31).