Sen. Brown To Seniors: “Your Medicare is Safe”

Senator Scott Brown Says Warren “Desperate”

Talks About Medicare, Social Security, Budget

Click to watch video on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiPRmhHP9Do&w=380&h=260

By Tom Duggan, August, 2012

Sen. Scott Brown speaking in North Andover

“Desperate”

United States Senator Scott Brown said his opponent Elizabeth Warren was “desperate” Monday during a visit to the North Andover Senior Center where he spoke for about thirty minutes on Medicare, taxes, the national debt, social security, abortion and the president’s failure to sign legislation.

During the question and answer period Brown was asked how he deals with the labeling, stereotyping, personal attacks and hate that gets hurled at him by Democrats during the campaign.

Brown said, “you know what I have found, that there are good people on both sides of every issue. Really… It’s on every issue. I have found there are extremes in both parties. What I have tried to do, though, is treat people with dignity and respect.”

Asked after the event if he was offended by the fact that Professor Warren was exploiting the rape of women to get votes, a reference to her most recent radio commercials, Brown said that it was a sign of desperation.

“As the polling is changing more and more in my favor she is getting more and more desperate,” Brown said. “People deserve better, they do, they deserve better.”

Brown said that he didn’t pay too much attention to the polls, if he had worried about them when he was down 41 points during the last election “I never would have gotten out of bed.”

“But I am doing well in the polls and as the polls are going up and Professor Warren’s are going down there’s a sense of desperation, really, if you notice the uptick in personal attacks and the distortion of my record especially… you deserve better.”

Third Party Attack Ads

“The one thing I have been thankful for, it was my idea to come up with that third party agreement where it bars all those third party ads. So, you haven’t seen all those outside groups coming in and spending tens of millions of dollars and basically cluttering up your tv screens and your radios.

So, we’ve been talking about our own record and what we plan to do. I was glad that she signed on with me and we have kept them out for six months and that’s a good thing. So, the polls are going well I have been up 5, 6% and seem to be on a good swing but you know I’m running like I am down 25 [points].”

Abortion

During the event, Brown was questioned on his stand on abortion and surprised some in the audience. “I am pro-choice and I have been since Gail and I have known each other. There are differences though between Professor Warren and me on that issue. I am not in favor of federal funding. I am not in favor of partial birth abortion. I am not in favor of lowering the age of consent for abortions like she is. And that’s a difference. But I believe these issues are best decided between a woman and their doctor.”

On the National Debt

“Our country is facing many challenges,” Brown said.

“We are facing some real struggles. When I went down [to Washington] there was a 11.95 trillion dollar national debt, it’s up to 16 trillion dollars. We are borrowing 40 cents on every dollar.

There’s an attack brewing, where they are going to cut ¾ of a trillion dollars of your Medicare. That is something I am not supportive of. I am going to continue to work to protect it [Medicaid]. Anyone who is getting it by the way, let’s put the mystery to bed right here, anyone who is getting Medicare or will get it, will be grandmothered or grandfathered in. There’s no discussion, no effort whatsoever to make sure you don’t get those care and coverages, none.

Will my daughter get the same coverage as my mom if we are going to keep the system viable?

Probably not. But that’s a conversation we need to have together. It’s not going to be a Democrat thing. I know there are some good Democrats here. There are some good Republicans and Independents here, the one thing we have in common folks is we are all Americans first. The only way we are going to solve these national problems is work together. Right now!”

Bi Partisan – The Only Guy

“I am the second most bipartisan senator in the United States Senate. I vote 54% with my party. Every other member of the delegation from Massachusetts votes 96-97% and above. So what does that mean? It means that I am the only guy in the delegation trying to work together to move our country forward

Brown noted several bills he has worked on with Democrats saying, “as evidenced by my voting record. Insider trading, I didn’t know you could go down to Washington and do insider trading and not go to jail.

But let me tell you something, they will now. I was honored to be in the rose garden when the President signed that bill to prohibit that kind of thing. I’m hoping it went a long way to reestablishing some trust between you and us, the people who are working in Washington.

Brown also hailed his work on the “Hire a Hero Veteran Bill.” It’s now law. The three percent withholding, which is; any contractor that’s doing work with the government, that stealth tax that was going into effect, it’s gone.

[The] 1099 fix, that affects businesses , that’s gone. The Arlington Cemetery Bill, the crowd funding bill these are all things that I have been working on, [and] trying to save the Post Office, I’m pushing a bill through with Senator Collins, Lieberman, Carper and I, to make sure that the post office will be viable so you can get your mail.

These are the things I am working on each and every day. The things that people care about, right now. Debt, deficit, taxes spending, jobs, national security, and energy, that’s what people care about.

They want to know if their sons or daughters, husbands or wives, go off to battle they are going to come home safely. And if they don’t come home safely and they come home hurt, injured, mentally or physically, that they are going to get the care and coverages they need to get better.

I’m on Armed Services, Homeland, Veterans, Small Business [Committees]. I am the ranking member on Armed Services, ranking member on Homeland Security, working very hard to make sure when we send the soldiers out, they are actually able to go out and do their jobs with the tools and resources [they need] to do their jobs well and come home safely.

An Attack on Medicare and Breaking with Paul Ryan

“There is an attack as I said, it’s an attack on your Medicare.

You know you hear about the Ryan Budget and trying to attack Medicare. I voted against the Ryan budget twice. Twice. And I also put out an op-ed as to why I did it. I did it because I was deeply concerned about the approach to handling Medicare reform. In order to do it right, and there is a way to do it, but it needs to be done together, a bipartisan, bicameral way in which the president will sign it.

It’s not going to be just ramming it through with the scare tactics to scare all of you.

And you are all very intelligent people. You know better. You know you are going to have someone like me down there who’s looking out to make sure that you are going to have that contract that was informally signed between the federal government and you, to give you those benefits that are in place. You are not going to be affected at all.

For other generations, in order to make it viable there are going to need to be some changes. I am going to continue to do my best and listen. I don’t know it all. I am going to make mistakes. I said that the night I was elected, if you watched my victory speech I said; you know what, I am going to make mistakes and I started right off the bat. I said my daughters are available on national tv. How’ that for a pretty good doosie? That being said, I have learned from that mistake and I will continue to learn from that mistake.”

Senior Centers

“But I wanted to thank you. I visit senior centers, being on the elder caucus when I was a state rep. and state senator, being a former selectmen, and I am working very hard in Wrentham for our senior center to get thatbuilt. Looking at Norfolk and Franklin and visiting the 12 cities and towns in my [former state senate] district is something I enjoy, [like] playing pool, having events, participating in events, it’s important. It’s a very important part of who I am.”

Social security and Taxes

“At the end of this year you are going to wake up on January 1st to a very different country in terms of our tax policy. The child care tax credit is going to be cut down to $500. You are going to have the lower rates go from 10% to 15%, from 35% to 39.6%. A lot of the tax policy would change dramatically that’s the fiscal cliff that even Bill Clinton in a moment of candor said we can’t go close and we can’t go over, and I am paraphrasing but I agree with him.

We need to address these issues. I shouldn’t be here with you right now. I should be in Washington right now working on these things and I have called for it, I’ve asked for it, others have as well and some people unfortunately want to go over that fiscal cliff.

I think it sends a very, very bad message to our world partners and others throughout the word who are looking at us as role models, economic role models. Social Security? Listen, it’s stable. Does it need to be fixed? Yes. It can be done within the system. I don’t think they need to raise taxes on the social security programs like Professor Warren wants to do. She wants to raise the cap and I don’t think that’s necessary at this point.

Congressman Akin

Asked about Congressman Akin’s comments on opposing abortion in cases of rape, Brown said he was the first to ask Akin to apologize and not run. “I was first in the country,” He said. “Professor Warren hasn’t even asked him to step down and that’s putting politics ahead of this every important issue.”

Honored to be a United States Senator

“And let me tell you something. Besides my marriage to Gail and the birth of my two daughters, being your senator is the greatest honor I’ve ever had in my life. I mean, to think someone like me, a guy who’s mom and dad were married and divorced four times each.

I had lived in 17 houses by the time I was 18, and you have read and heard about some of the abuse and other challenges I have had.

But those life experiences I tell you, have made me who I am today. They have given me that foundation, that rock to know what the value of a dollar is. I know what the value of a dollar is. Each and every day I go down there, I read the bills. I understand them and if I don’t, I find a way to understand them. I see how those bills affect Massachusetts, how they affect our country, our debt, our deficit, and I vote. That’s it. Period … Period.”