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Congressional Response: Representative John P. Murtha (D-12th, PA) Responds to Your Notch Petition
I've been especially pressing for a prescription drug program for Seniors under Medicare and so was very disappointed in the measure that passed recently. I voted against it because it will increase costs for so many Seniors and open up Medicare for privatization, which is not the way Medicare was intended to work. I voted for a stronger version which failed to garner the support of the House Leadership. I appreciate your views on this issue and hope you'll keep in touch with me about that and other issues of interest to you. Take care and best wishes. Sincerely,
January 2005 | ||||||||
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I've supported correcting the "notch" for Seniors but unfortunately there hasn't been the political support that's needed to pass legislation. None of the past five Presidents has supported a change-- largely due to studies showing that the changes were the effect of sudden increase in inflation in the 1970's just after the notch changes were made. However, I've sponsored numerous measures to help retirees---to preserve the solvency of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, strengthen Veterans programs, increase COLA, and secure retired miners and railroad employee benefits, among others.