Washington, D.C. – DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz released the following statement today in response to a Republican idea to drug-test Medicare recipients:

“Over the years, I’ve witnessed countless attempts by Republicans to shred the social safety net, but I have to admit that supporting drug testing Medicare recipients is a new low.

“Medicare benefits are earned over a lifetime of hard work. Like Social Security, beneficiaries have often paid into these programs for decades. To undermine Medicare and Social Security is to break a sacred promise our nation has made to its seniors, including tens of thousands of my constituents in South Florida. And it doesn’t matter if that means drug-testing seniors, or if it means privatizing Social Security or turning Medicare into a voucher program like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and other Republicans have supported.

“I hope that the Republicans running for President not only denounce this proposal, which is both discriminatory and a waste of taxpayer funds, but promise that they will not make other changes to Medicare that would deny access to care or erode the benefits to which America’s seniors have earned.”