Press Office of Alexander Shackleton (D-CT)

[Alexander Shackleton]

Shackleton Decries "Immoral" Cuts to Medicare

Senator Alexander Shackleton responded to the President's new budget today, decrying "immoral" cuts to Medicare, agriculture, and "crippling" cuts to international affairs, while praising the President for investing in education and reducing corporate tax breaks. In a press conference with reporters from Washington, Shackleton made his stand.

"This President has shown his contempt for the most vulnerable, contempt for common Americans who work hard, Americans who play by the rules. By cutting nearly 350 billion dollars from the Medicare budget, President Warder has endangered the health of millions of seniors all across this country who look to Medicare for affordable medicine and dignity in retirement - not to mention the generations of Americans who will not have access to the program. Sensible cuts in a reasonable fashion are acceptable, especially in a time of war, but this President has gone too far in all but abolishing a fundamental social program in our American system, and dooming it to bankruptcy.

No wonder he doesn't want guest workers accessing America's social programs - he doesn't even want them to exist!

Not only is President Warder neglectful of our nation's seniors, but he has shown utter contempt for the farmers of this country by proposing a 70% cut in agricultural funding. Like a vast majority of Americans, I oppose agricultural subsidies going to big farming companies and corporate welfare, but I will never acquiesce to this extremist plan to pull our family farmers' "safety net" from underneath them, with little warning and all at once. A 70% cut is beyond the pale, and our country's family farmer's deserve better.

While I was pleased to see the President make a commitment to education, I was also shocked to see the President cut funding for international affairs 50%! I don't see the benefits here. Saving only fifteen billion dollars, the President has crippled our ability to conduct foreign affairs, be involved in the international community, and help promote prosperity and democracy throughout the world - a policy contradictory to our long-term interests in the War on Terror. While the President has committed billions more dollars to the War in Iraq, President Warder has ignored the other pressing matters which our nation must face around the world, and we cannot allow this outrageous budget slashing to undercut our efforts abroad.

President Warder has shown himself unfit to lead. His fantasy budget redirects vital assistance to our seniors, farmers, and efforts around the world into pet projects and tax benefits, with no leadership or direction. If we're to have any guise of fiscal and social responsibility as a Congress, we'll reject it, and we'll send a message to the President that the most vulnerable Americans are not for sale."

[Alexander Shackleton]

"Treaty Usurps Constitution," Shackleton Says

Senator Alexander Shackleton, in a press conference about the President's 2009 budget, elaborated on his opposition to the President's guest worker treaty with Mexico. After discussing his basic support for a guest worker program, Shackleton explained made his case.

"In 1920, in Missouri v. Holland, the Supreme Court decided that Treaties are, in and of themselves, an enumerated power of Congress. As such, they can circumvent America's traditional limits on governmental power, such as the Tenth Amendment's guarantee of States' Rights. That's exactly what President Warder's treaty is trying to do, and that's why he's proposed it as a treaty. President Warder's treaty with Mexico can hardly be called a traditional treaty. I see a lot of American responsibilities - maintaining a guest worker program, administering the program, dealing with those who participate, granting citizenship - but I don't see any such requirements for the Mexican Government.

What I see is a well-intentioned domestic policy wrapped in poor planning and bad writing, in treaty clothing. That doesn't make it right, and that doesn't make it good policy. It puts the States, that's right, individual States in charge of immigration. That's an unfunded mandate, and that's bad policy. It forces immigrants to pay their taxes, act as citizens, and fulfill their responsibilities - but it prohibits them from receiving the benefits of the American system (or what's left of them). Worst of all, it violates the Constitution through a legal back door - through a treaty - and I will not allow such a usurpation of our Constitutional system.

I vow to do all I can to defeat this ill-advised treaty, and I demand that the President come back to the Senate with a reasonable alternative that maintains our system of federalism, works within our rule of law, and doesn't work around it."

[Alexander Shackleton]

Shackleton to Warder: "Get used to it"

After hearing of the President calling Senator Shackleton "Ted Kennedy" and "Jesse Jackson," Senator Shackleton had harsh words for the California Republican, saying "if protecting our seniors is partisan, I'm a partisan for our seniors!"

Senator Shackleton stressed that his objections to the President's budget had little to do with protection of the poor, and praised President Warder's initiatives on education and low-income programs. However, on Medicare, the Senator was harshly critical of the plan to gut budgetary spending, and continued the attack on farming cuts. "Farmers don't need to learn how to fish, they need to compete with the sharks," Senator Shackleton responded, moving into President Warder's tax policies. "The President can pretend that he's helping us in the long run with his tax credits and pet projects, but he's just shifting the burden of his corporate benefits onto our seniors and our farmers, and I won't back down, not for Ted Kennedy, not for Jesse Jackson, not for Herbert Hoover with a smile."

[Alexander Shackleton]

On Williams: Out of Touch with our Farmers, Out of Touch with our Seniors

Senator Shackleton echoed his strong words for President Warder with strong words for another California Republican, Senate Majority Leader Owen Williams. Continuing his attacks on the 2009 Budget, Shackleton derided the Republican plan to replace Medicare with personal savings accounts, asking, "So, you've paid all your life into Social Security, you've paid all your life into Medicare, you've worked hard and played by the rules your entire life, and now a 65 year old senior in California, Connecticut, or anywhere in this Nation has to open a savings account when they've earned Medicare for all these years?"

Senator Shackleton was clearly skeptical of the budget plan, adding, "It's proposterous. If you want to encourage savings, encourage savings, you won't see any opposition from me. But expecting seniors to make a life's savings in less than a year, and expecting America to accept a thrashing of Medicare to pay for it is immoral, irresponsible, and just plain wrong."

Shackleton continued his attack to the agriculture policy, where he derided Senator Williams' attempt to call his criticism of subsidy cuts as "offensive." Said Senator Shackleton, "Ask any farmer in America what's offensive: Europe and big agriculture companies cheating the markets for profit, or a Democratic minority protecting their right to a little assistance from the government. We've made a commitment to low food prices and our family farmers for over 60 years. Ask them how that's offensive."

When asked about sponsoring President Warder's Smart Farming Act, Senator Shackleton was even more skeptical. Said the Senator, "If abandoning our farmers is smart farming, I'll have nothing to do with it."

[Alexander Shackleton]

Shackleton Holds Strong on Medicare, Constitution

U.S. Senator Alexander Shackleton (D-CT) held strong today against Republican criticism of his opposition to the President's proposals on Medicare and the Vice President's proposal for video game regulation, saying, "I will continue to stand up for seniors, I will continue to stand up for the Constitution, and I will not stand down!"

"The President's followers in the Senate are pushing the wrong prescription on health care for America's seniors, and despite the Majority Leader's promises, it's too big a pill to swallow for those relying on this vital program."

"President Warder's budget doesn't 'shift funding away from Medicare to non-Medicare healthcare programs.' It breaks the promise we've made to seniors by eliminating the social program they've paid into all their lives, a program thousands rely on, and then tries to make up for that with, and I quote, 'imaginative' tax cuts."

"The only thing imaginative about this plan is the idea that somehow, an 'imaginative' tax cut will help seniors who have already worked and paid taxes all their lives. An 'imaginative' tax cut won't cut it for America's seniors, and I'm determined to protect them from the Republicans' onslaught on Medicare."

"Not only is Senator Williams wrong about the President's plans, but he's wrong about Medicare itself. Medicare isn't a 'bureaucratic, messy, overly-expensive program,' it's an efficient program which has provided low cost health care for our nation's seniors for decades. It's one of the most well administered and least wasteful government programs there is, and President Warder's tall tales aren't going to change that."

"If the President wants to make a case for change in Medicare, or more choices in Medicare, or even wants to consider changes in the benefit structure, he is welcome to do that. But an 100% cut in Medicare with structural changes that won't make a difference for years to come is one pill I won't swallow, and if Senator Williams thinks that America's seniors are 'senile' for following my lead, perhaps he should get his own head checked out."