Debate Fact Check: Lobbyist David Jolly’s Record on Social Security and Medicare

Tallahassee, FL – At today’s forum, lying special interest Lobbyist David Jolly is still proving that Pinellas residents can’t trust him, misleading residents about his record of making seniors pay more for the Medicare and Social security benefits they’ve earned – balancing the budget on the backs of seniors while protecting unfair tax breaks for his corporations and the wealthiest few. Here are the facts about Lobbyist Jolly’s record on Social Security and Medicare:

• Jolly Lobbied on Social Security Reform for a Client That Supported Privatizing Social Security. “A 2009 lobbying disclosure report indicates David Jolly worked on Social Security reform on behalf of a conservative interest whose CEO expressed support for privatizing accounts.” [Tampa Bay Times, 1/22/14]

• Jolly Said Social Security is “Not Guaranteed,” and That “Everything Should be On the Table, Including Private Accounts.” In 2014, Jolly said: “Social Security is not guaranteed.” The Tampa Bay Times reported that on Social Security, Jolly thought “everything should be on the table, including private accounts.”  [St. Petersburg College Candidate Forum, 2/03/13; Tampa Bay Times, 1/31/14]

• Jolly Client and Benefactor Called the Social Security Trust Fund a “Ponzi Scheme” Jolly was “point man on Capitol Hill” for Jim MacDougald, founder of Free Enterprise Nation. In his book Unsustainable, MacDougald called the Social Security Trust Fund a “ponzischeme.” [Tampa Bay Times, 1/31/14; Creative Loafing, 2/12/14]

• Jolly Said There was “A Lot of Good” in a Plan That Would Cost Seniors $6,400 a Year for Their Medicare Coverage. In 2013, Jolly said: “I think there was a lot of good in the Ryan budget.” In 2011 USA Today reported: “The Congressional Budget Office estimated that plan would cost beneficiaries an average of $6,400 more annually.”  [Bay News 9, 12/08/13; USA Today, 10/03/11]

• Jolly Lobbied on a Budget That Would Turn Medicare into a Costly Voucher Program. In Fall 2009, Jolly lobbied Congressman Paul Ryan on Ryan’s budget proposal. The CBO reported that under Ryan’s plan, “Both the level of expected federal spending on Medicare and the uncertainty surrounding that spending would decline, but enrollees’ spending for health care and the uncertainty surrounding that spending would increase. Under the Roadmap, the value of the voucher would be less than expected Medicare spending per enrollee in 2021, when the voucher program would begin […]Moreover, the value of the voucher would grow significantly more slowly than CBO expects that Medicare spending per enrollee would grow under current law.” [Tampa Bay Times, 1/22/14; CBO, 1/27/10]

• Jolly’s Radical Repeal of the ACA Would Reopen the Prescription Drug Doughnut Hole. “There’s a Medicare prescription-drug coverage abyss that is playfully referred to as the ‘doughnut hole,’ though there is nothing sweet or amusing about it. But thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which had a rocky launch last week, Medicare beneficiaries will see that gap shrink again in 2013 and each year until 2020.” [Wall Street Journal, 10/06/13]