Congressman McGovern Holds Press Conference in Worcester

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Seniors, Advocates criticize Marty Lamb’s ‘radical’ stance on Medicare, Social Security

Local seniors and senior advocates criticized Marty Lamb today for his “radical and dangerous” stances on Medicare and Social Security.

Citing experts, the McGovern Campaign said that Mr. Lamb’s “10th Amendment Pledge” would undermine the very basis of those vital programs.

“Despite his disingenuous claims of sticking up for seniors, Mr. Lamb is actively working to destroy the constitutional underpinnings of the programs most important to them,” said McGovern spokesman Scott Zoback.

In a statement, University of Chicago Constitutional Law Professor and former Supreme Court Clerk Geoff Stone said that Lamb’s pledge would “threaten the very premise of constitutional government.”

“If American constitutional law had embraced the position now asserted in the Tenth Amendment Pledge, the federal government could not charter federal banks, it could not enact laws prohibiting racial and religious discrimination, it could not establish minimum national standards for protecting the public health and safety,” wrote Stone.

Similarly, Ian Millhiser, a legal research analyst with the Center for American Progress Action Fund wrote in American Prospect last year that “tenthers” read the constitution “too narrowly...to permit much of the progress of the last century.”

Bob Dwyer, Executive Director of the Central Massachusetts Agency on Aging, said that seniors’ “quality of life would be irreparably damaged,” by Lamb’s pledge.

At the press conference at the Worcester Senior Center, McGovern pledged to fight for Social Security and Medicare.  “I have always stood up for seniors, and I pledge to you today that I will continue to do so.”