William C. Baker: “What you are saying then is if we do nothing by 2002, the Medicare trust fund then becomes insolvent?”

The bay program is essential, and it must be fully funded.

By 2010 it is over. We have 14 to 16 years to straighten this out. While the others drag their feet, my own Senator ran ads saying, I will vote for the balanced budget, vote for me. She got here and reneged. It was the one vote that killed…

Well, let me summarize, because we have run out of time, if the gentleman from Ohio will yield one more second, and that is we have established now, there is a problem, because two generations of trustees, Republican and Democrat, have…

I think then we have an obligation, because we were elected by the people to preserve, protect and strengthen Medicare, not to kill it, that we have to take some action which will allow it to live beyond just our generation.