I am glad to see that my opponent has finally decided to take a stand on an issue as important as Medicare, but unfortunately he has chosen the playbook of Barack Obama and the liberal left when it comes to talking about this issue.  In a recent editorial, he makes use of the same old scare tactics that Obama and Washington liberals have been spouting off to anyone who will listen.

Although these ridiculous claims have already been widely debunked by several fact checking organizations, it seems my opponent thinks if he keeps repeating this nonsense he can turn voters’ attention away from his lack of any real platform, federal tax liens and missing campaign funds.

In the midst of these recycled Obama talking points disguised as an editorial, my opponent refers to the “Paul Ryan/Scott DesJarlais plan for Medicare”. While I’m certainly a proud supporter of Chairman Ryan’s budget proposal, I believe this is the first time that anyone has called it the Ryan/DesJarlais plan.

Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate my opponent suggesting that I was the co-author of the only credible plan out there that protects Medicare, pays down our debt and creates jobs, but the truth is Paul was working on his budget well before I was elected to Congress.

But if the Stewart campaign insists on calling such a bold and common sense proposal the Ryan/DesJarlais plan, I’m certainly not going to object. Actually I believe it is only fair that I return the favor by giving my opponent credit for some of the policies he supports.

Eric Stewart finally announced that this November he would be supporting President Obama and his four years of trillion dollar deficits. Under the Obama/Stewart budgetary approach we will continue down this road of fiscal irresponsibility that is killing American jobs and destroying our nation’s credit rating. The Obama/Stewart budget is so unpopular that it failed to receive a single vote from either party in the House or Senate. Apparently, the fact that we borrow 40 cents for every dollar we spend is not important enough to be addressed in the Obama/Stewart budget.

This is in stark contrast to the Ryan/DesJarlais budget. Our budget puts this country on a path to eliminating deficits in a balanced way so that our children and grandchildren aren’t left with a mountain of debt. Erskine Bowles, co-chair of President Obama's Deficit Commission and Former Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton, has called the Ryan/DesJarlais plan a “sensible, straightforward, honest, serious budget.”

In his editorial my opponent repeats the false accusations of Democrat National Committee (DNC) Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in claiming that the Path to Prosperity will lead to current seniors paying an additional $6,300 out-of-pocket. Fortunately, the media has widely debunked this Wasserman Schultz/Stewart campaign of misinformation. In fact, the non-partisan fact checking group PolitiFact labeled Democrats’ claims that Republicans are trying to end Medicare as the “Lie of the Year” for 2011.

The truth is that under the Ryan/DesJarlais plan we ensure that those who are 55 and older will see absolutely no changes to their Medicare plan. Those younger than 55 will be able to choose from a variety of plans similar to what Members of Congress and Federal Employees have. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, the DNC Chairman finally conceded that the Ryan/DesJarlais plan will not change a thing for people 55 and over.

The Stewart Campaign believes that the solution to fixing Medicare is the President’s health care law, which my opponent says he supports. StewBamaCare raids $700 billion from Medicare to pay for a massive new government takeover of healthcare. Further, StewBamaCare creates a board of fifteen unelected bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to limit procedures covered by Medicare.

The Ryan/DesJarlais budget fully repeals StewBamaCare and replaces it with real measures that will expand access care and drive down costs. Most importantly, it does so without cutting the benefits that our current seniors need and deserve.

There is no doubt that Medicare is on the path to bankruptcy. The Medicare Trustees, the board responsible for overseeing Medicare, issued a report saying that the program will go broke in 2024. The Ryan/DesJarlais plan recognizes the gravity of the situation and takes action save this critical program.

It is no secret that liberal Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in Washington has ordered the Stewart Campaign to support Leader Pelosi’s liberal agenda and push out the standard Democratic scare tactics. But this is Tennessee; we’re smarter than to fall for that. I’m proud of my vote for the Ryan Budget and if they want to call it the Ryan/DesJarlais plan, that is just fine by me.

Congressman Scott DesJarlais, Fourth District, TN