McCaskill slams Ryan as blatantly 'disingenuous' on Medicare cuts

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) hammered Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) approach to Medicare cuts Tuesday morning, hours before Ryan releases his most recent budget proposal.

McCaskill criticized Ryan for budget proposals that would preserve Medicare cuts in President Obama's healthcare law, which Ryan campaigned against in 2012.

"It is one of the most blatant acts of being disingenuous around politics in this country that I've ever seen," McCaskill said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

The Affordable Care Act cuts $716 billion in Medicare payments to providers, such as doctors and hospitals. The cuts were a leading line of attack for the GOP presidential campaign and in congressional races last year. But Ryan's budget proposals called for leaving those same cuts intact, while repealing the rest of the Affordable Care Act.

"The No. 1 attack on Democrats across the country last November, No. 1 in every campaign — in Florida, in the presidential — was the Medicare cuts to providers in ObamaCare," McCaskill said. "What did Ryan do? He didn't say, 'Repeal all of ObamaCare.' He just said 'Repeal the benefits, keep those same cuts' that they campaigned against."

Ryan's latest budget, set to be released Tuesday morning, also leaves the $716 billion in Medicare cuts intact while repealing the healthcare law's coverage expansion.

Ryan has said repealing the healthcare law but preserving its Medicare cuts will let Congress use those cuts to shore up the Medicare trust fund, rather than using Medicare savings to help pay for other programs.

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