Jeff Miller: “I rise today to talk about Medicare, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle keep bringing up the issue of the…”

“I rise today to talk about Medicare, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle keep bringing up the issue of the environment. I am glad the previous speaker talked about all the environmental Republicans from the fact that President Nixon was one that brought forth the Environmental Protection Agency. The real core difference we have, we are all for the environment. The difference is whether Washington has all the answers or we know better in Florida what to do with the Florida environment and New York knows better what to do with their environment. I do not believe that Washington is the expert on every single subject. We need to let the States have the power to make some of those decisions. What I rise today to talk about is Medicare. There are two articles in today's papers about Medicare; one in the New York Times, the front page, and one in the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times article talks about how Medicare is in a bigger financial problem than we realize. And the Wall Street Journal article talks about how the Democrats are making it a campaign issue, which is too bad because Medicare is far too important to play politics with and to scare seniors. The New York Times article says that the Medicare Program is in worse than projected financial problems. They talk about the fact that last year, for example, in the Medicare Program, the part A Program, was projected to have a $4.7 billion surplus. Instead it ran a $35.7 million deficit.”