Mark Pocan for Congress

Mark Pocan

Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential announcement this weekend was a wake up call.

By Mark Pocan

The Republican Party isn't interested in finding common ground. They want to pursue an extreme, far-right agenda that would set our nation back decades.

Paul Ryan's budget would end Medicare as we know it, turning it into a voucher program that would increase seniors’ health costs. Ryan also supports privatizing Social Security, subjecting seniors’ retirement security to the whims of the stock market.

I'm running for Congress because it's times like these that we need Democrats who aren't afraid to stand up for progressive values and take on out-of-touch Tea Party ideas.

As a state legislator, I fought for affordable prescription drug coverage for Wisconsin’s seniors, co-sponsoring legislation to bring costs down and voting for SeniorCare. I will continue this fight in Washington, so we can work to allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for its 48 million beneficiaries.

Studies show giving Medicare the power to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies could save more than $90 billion – savings that would be passed on to seniors.

Now is not a time to give tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires while we pass on higher health care costs to seniors.