Jack Kingston: “Mr. Speaker, the way I look at it is that the intent is to put the money in fact in Medicare as opposed to the NEA or…”

“Mr. Speaker, the way I look at it is that the intent is to put the money in fact in Medicare as opposed to the NEA or the AmeriCorps or public broadcasting or whatever else. The idea behind it is to say Medicare is a much higher priority, and we are comfortable in making that blanket statement. As the gentleman knows, we can continue in the Committee on Appropriations on the subcommittee and the full committee level to move monies back and forth, and we can have offsets within the title of a bill, or even on the House floor with it. But I do not consider it a big partisan issue. I think now the Vice President has actually endorsed this idea, so I do not consider this a partisan thing whatsoever. But I do think that it is just an idea that would further protect Medicare and social security. That is why I have supported it.”