Joe Biden to bash Mitt Romney, GOP over Medicare, Social Security in Coconut Creek

From an Obama campaign press release"

CHICAGO, IL – Today, Vice President Biden will deliver remarks at Wynmoor Village in Coconut Creek, FL on the President’s commitment to preserving and protecting our sacred compact with America’s seniors – that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can retire with dignity and security. The Vice President will highlight the Administration’s efforts to strengthen Medicare and other critical programs, drawing a contrast with Republican candidates who support the GOP budget proposal that would turn Medicare into a voucher program forcing seniors to pay thousands more a year for their health care in order to give massive tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.

The event is the second in a series of remarks that the Vice President will deliver in the coming weeks about the economy and the middle class that will frame the issues that will be at the core of the general election and the choice America will make in November about the future we want for this country.

 EXCERPTS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH

 There’s no question that the aging of the Baby Boomers puts new pressures on Medicare and Social Security.  With the number of seniors doubling by 2040, the question is: are we going to strengthen and sustain these programs, now and for the future?  

 Or will we use these challenges as a pretense to do what many have been trying to do since the beginning:  dismantle them?

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The American people won't be fooled. They know there's a fundamental difference between us and the Republicans. We believe in strengthening Medicare. They don't.

Make no mistake:  If Republicans in Congress and their amen corner of Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich get their hands on the White House, they will end Medicare as we know it.

 ---

Mitt Romney also supports something the Republican leaders in Congress call “cut, cap, and balance.”

 Of course, nobody knows what it means… and that’s exactly what they intend. Because like so many of the most damaging things, it looks and sounds innocuous.

 So, let’s cut through it and say it in plain English.

 The “cut” is cutting Social Security.

 The “cap” is putting a cap on what we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay in taxes.

 And the “balance” is balancing the budget on the backs of seniors and middle class Americans.

 ---

 When these guys cut Social Security and voucherize Medicare, they’re not saving the next generation.  They’re thrusting the burden on the next generation.   They’re making it even harder for the middle class at a time when we know, if we want our economy to be strong, the middle class has to be strong.  

The event is the second in a series of remarks that the Vice President will deliver in the coming weeks about the economy and the middle class that will frame the issues that will be at the core of the general election and the choice America will make in November about the future we want for this country.

 EXCERPTS OF THE VICE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH

 There’s no question that the aging of the Baby Boomers puts new pressures on Medicare and Social Security.  With the number of seniors doubling by 2040, the question is: are we going to strengthen and sustain these programs, now and for the future?  

 Or will we use these challenges as a pretense to do what many have been trying to do since the beginning:  dismantle them?

---

The American people won't be fooled. They know there's a fundamental difference between us and the Republicans. We believe in strengthening Medicare. They don't.

Make no mistake:  If Republicans in Congress and their amen corner of Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich get their hands on the White House, they will end Medicare as we know it.

 ---

Mitt Romney also supports something the Republican leaders in Congress call “cut, cap, and balance.”

 Of course, nobody knows what it means… and that’s exactly what they intend. Because like so many of the most damaging things, it looks and sounds innocuous.

 So, let’s cut through it and say it in plain English.

 The “cut” is cutting Social Security.

 The “cap” is putting a cap on what we ask the wealthiest Americans to pay in taxes.

 And the “balance” is balancing the budget on the backs of seniors and middle class Americans.

 ---

 When these guys cut Social Security and voucherize Medicare, they’re not saving the next generation.  They’re thrusting the burden on the next generation.   They’re making it even harder for the middle class at a time when we know, if we want our economy to be strong, the middle class has to be strong.