Sen. Durbin spoke at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, digging into what is needed to shore up Medicare and Medicaid for future generations.
While Republicans have urged cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to avoid sequestration at the beginning of the new year, Sen. Durbin said that is not necessary, according to the report.
Instead, he recommended Congress focus on the fiscal cliff now to avert another economic recession, and beginning in 2013, both parties should build a blueprint on how to extract savings from Medicare and Medicaid.
The deficit talks have usually split the political parties into two camps. Republicans generally want cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare with no tax increases, while Democrats have advocated for higher taxes on the wealthy and no alterations to social programs.
“We can’t be so naive to believe that just taxing the rich will solve our (fiscal) problems,” Sen. Durbin said in the report.
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