Pete Stark: “I am inclined to support the Watts-Moran-Thornberry amendment. I am a cosponsor of the legislation of the gentleman from…”

“I am inclined to support the Watts-Moran-Thornberry amendment. I am a cosponsor of the legislation of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Moran), which does roughly the same thing. The amendment is revenue neutral. It does have an accounting problem as currently drafted. As drafted, the amendment would increase Medicare utilization undoubtedly as the retirees find it less expensive to seek medical care there. As we all know, we have a long-term financing problem in the Medicare Trust Fund, and if we increase Medicare spending, it is essential that we keep the trust fund neutral. This amendment needs an accounting fix to make sure that that money that the DOD raises gets into the Medicare Trust Fund and not into general revenues. It is my understanding that staff has not yet had time to work out the details of the language, and I am wondering if the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry) could give us a commitment to address this problem in conference?”