Peter Deutsch: “I hope that people here and people watching on C-SPAN have a sense of what is going on. We are debating a rule, and what…”

“I hope that people here and people watching on C-SPAN have a sense of what is going on. We are debating a rule, and what that rule does, it prevents the Democrats from offering a prescription drug coverage bill. That is what the rule does. Now, why would the Republican leadership want to do that rule? Think about that for a second. The reason they want that rule is it might pass, the Democratic proposal might pass if offered. And so, by this rule, the Democratic option will not be available. Why not? Well, the Republican proposal, specifically when we get into what it does, literally destroys Medicare. It changes Medicare from a universal mandatory health care system for seniors to a selective system only for seniors who are at 130 percent of poverty. So the broad-based political support that we have for Social Security and Medicare would end, and the things that we have done to sustain Medicare would end. Mr. Speaker, the issue of a voucher part of the program would also be part of the Republican proposal, fundamentally different than what the Democrats are trying to do. Finally, very quickly, in closing I say that, in 1965, Medicare would not have been passed if the Republicans were in charge. It will not pass in the year 2000 with the Republican majority.”