Sam Gejdenson: “I think we have to look at history when we are trying to examine a debate. Our friends on the Republican side of the…”

“I think we have to look at history when we are trying to examine a debate. Our friends on the Republican side of the aisle come today with a masked proposal, a hidden proposal to tell us they are going to save Medicare. The Democrats over the years have repaired the Medicare system over and over again. This is not the first time the trust fund has had some problems. In the 1970's and 1980's, time and time again we repaired it. We started off from a position where we believed in Medicare. We wanted the system to serve our senior citizens. Let us listen to the words of the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey], the majority leader. If he had his way, he would have no part in Medicare. If he had his way, I think what we would do is we would all have no Medicare. Our mothers and fathers and grandparents worked hard, fought in the wars to protect this country. We now need to keep the contract with them, not put them into bankruptcy, not raid the Medicare system, but fix the program to make sure that it is there for future generations. We know there is a health care crisis in this country. The good news has been seniors have not been part of it. The Republicans are going to put seniors in that crisis.”