James Davis: “we are squandering a golden opportunity here today to preserve this surplus, to protect Social Security and Medicare…”

“we are squandering a golden opportunity here today to preserve this surplus, to protect Social Security and Medicare, and pay down the debt. As has been mentioned earlier, when one adds up all the spending and tax cuts this House is passing, we have already used up the entire surplus. That is why the argument that general revenues replacing this tax cut protect Medicare simply does not fly on the facts. Now, what does the motion to recommit represent? It represents an honest statement that there should be a legitimate debate about the extent to which seniors should contribute to the cost of Medicare in the years that go forward. Yes, I say to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), I think one can make some legitimate points about reducing this tax once we have the general revenue in place for Medicare. But that should be part of a broader debate on Medicare reform. We should not be doing Medicare reform ala carte. We ought to be having an honest and open debate about what fairness represents in terms of the share of the baby boomers like myself are going to pay, what share seniors are going to pay, how we are going to structure prescription drugs we all agree upon. Those are the facts. That is why we should defeat this bill and adopt the motion to recommit.”