To the editor:

Question: How much is going to be sacrificed to pass the Trade Act of 2015?

As part of the Trade Act – which would give the White House fast-track authority to negotiate international trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership – it is revealed out of nowhere that $700 million in Medicare funds will be misappropriated to pay for rehabilitation of American workers who lose their jobs.

This provision, called the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reauthorization Act, would extend Medicare program cuts in 2024 and use the tax money we all have contributed for health care in our senior years for an entirely different purpose.

How? Why? The U.S. House is specifically engineering this misuse of funds. Currently, this rehabilitation/retraining has been provided through separate funds to assist workers who lose their jobs.

It is absolutely unacceptable for these unrelated costs to come from Medicare. It is unacceptable that we elect people who would steal from Medicare rather than provide for American job losses from a more appropriate source. How can we keep these legislators in office? These same legislators will be the first to cry that Medicare is going broke.

This bill is not yet passed. Call or email your congressman today. Tell him: “Hands off America’s Medicare.”

– Curt Clawson, U.S. House District 19, phone (239) 573-5837, or email through his website at: clawson.house.gov.

– Tom Rooney, U.S. House District 17, phone (941) 575-9101, or email through his website at: rooney.house.gov.

Joan Patterson

Lehigh Acres