Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I appreciate the comments made by Senator Isakson. I wish to take a moment to follow up on his comments relative to Medicare and Social Security. Then I would ask Senator Blunt to offer a few words on where we go from here, what do we anticipate we have to do to set the ship of state on the right course, if you will. But let me speak to the issue of Medicare and Social Security. Senator Isakson could not be more right. When you get paid, you can literally go to your paycheck stub and you can see the amount of money that is being withheld out of your paycheck--throughout your life--for Social Security benefits and for Medicare benefits. When these programs were set up, thereabouts, a group was put together--they were referred to as trustees--and they basically did a fair analysis of where these programs were and where they were headed. Every year, they put out a report, and we will be getting another annual report in the not too distant future. But I think we all know what the report is going to say. The report is going to say that in the vicinity of about 2024, if not a bit sooner, Social Security literally is going to be insolvent. It is also going to say Medicare is literally in a position where it will be upside down financially sooner than that. The greatest challenge between the two, obviously, is Medicare. What does that mean to people who are currently beneficiaries or about to retire and planning on these items being there for them?…”