Date: 2013-03-13
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Let me thank my friend from New York. Congresswoman MALONEY. for her leadership on economic issues particularly impacting women. for the persistence of her introduction of the Equal Rights Amendment. long overdue. that we all join in to ensure the rights of women. And let me thank the gentlemen that are on the floor that joined us this evening. I want to follow up. as I listened to the discussion that you just had. I met with Dr. Brinkley in the hallway. who is one of the leading researchers in biomolecular research from Baylor University. in my Congressional region. if you will. I consider representation because it is such a massive institution. And he brought with him two of his researchers. In fact. the headline on one of my papers was the standstill work of one of our important researchers because of the sequester. and certainly because of this budget. All of that points to women who are most vulnerable as relates to the needs of research in chronic illnesses. Let me cite for my colleagues about this question of Medicare. Medicaid. and Social Security what is drastically cut and reordered under the Ryan Republican budget. Im really saddened that misinformation comes that the Medicares predominance. in terms of its help. goes to those who are fat cats. Let me share some numbers with you. Many of these are women. We do know that women live longer. and so the needs that they have for Medicare and Social Security may be extended. And may I take something out of our vocabulary. though it is in the dictionary. Medicare and Social Security are earned. I dont know where we got the word "entitlement." because entitlement suggests youre entitled with no basis of responsibility. But they earned this. Women earned this. And women started before the fight that we had. Congresswoman. for pay equity over the last decade or two. They were making the lower wages. and so their Social Security input had to be much lower as they continued to work years in. But let me just share with you on the Medicare beneficiaries: Annual income less than $22.500: 50 percent of the Medicare beneficiaries include in that number women. Chronic conditions: of those who receive Medicare. 40 percent include in that number women. Fair and poor health: 27 percent. women in that population. Cognitive mental impairment: 23 percent. women in that population. Functional limitations: 15 percent. women in that calculation. So. as I look at this budget. 60 percent of it is taking away health care from the poor and middle class. which would include women. The idea that the bill slants itself toward protecting the interests of the wealthy by not listing any deduction that youre willing to take. Now. I know if we get into a discussion about deductions. we put ourselves in that circle. but let me just say. middle class Americans need mortgage deductions. I know. however. that that is one that is under discussion. But why did our friends writing this budget not list the deductions that they would be willing to put on the table? Some of us realize that mortgage deductions help young families. It helps single women. It helps women who are maintaining or getting their first house. So here we have a special emphasis. Im glad my colleague mentioned breast cancer. I have introduced legislation on triple negative. It happens to have a farreaching impact on women from all ethnic groups. whether they are Caucasian. whether they are Hispanic. or whether they are African American or Asian. but it is a deadly form of the disease. a more deadly form of the disease. And so that kind of research which many of us are arguing for is now limited because of this budget. The budget does notwell. let me just say this. The budget takes for its own what was accomplished with the savings in the Affordable Care Act. It takes for its own the cuts that we made. were willing to make in 2012. over a trillion in cuts and spending. And it totally ignores economists who have indicated that the austerity format that was taken in Europe was the completely wrong direction. and that. then. impacts our families more negatively.