Jack Kingston: “a little over 2 years ago, on April 3, 1995, the Medicare trustees, who are appointed by President Clinton and other…”

“a little over 2 years ago, on April 3, 1995, the Medicare trustees, who are appointed by President Clinton and other folks, but it is a bipartisan committee, they came out with their report, and the trustees' report 2 years ago said Medicare was going to be bankrupt, the Congress was under an obligation to move to protect and preserve and strengthen Medicare. At that time, the Congress passed two plans to protect, preserve, and strengthen Medicare on a bipartisan basis and increase funding per beneficiary from about $5,200 to $7,100. There was no cut. Unfortunately, politics being politics, this was demagogued and eventually vetoed by the President of the United States. The senior citizens of America deserve more. Today those same trustees will come out with yet another report, and it will say one more time that Medicare is going to go bankrupt in the year 2002. In 1995, when the report first came out, Medicare was losing $22 million a day. Today it is losing about $36 million a day. Our seniors, my grandmother, my mom, my dad, your grandmother, your mom and dad, they deserve more. It is time for us to work on a bipartisan basis to save Medicare, not just for the next election, but for the next generation.”