JOHN LINDER: “it is interesting that the people who are complaining about cuts to Medicare are offering no program to save it. The…”

“it is interesting that the people who are complaining about cuts to Medicare are offering no program to save it. The President's own trustees on the Medicare trust fund said it will go bankrupt a year ago by the year 2002, and I will say it will be bankrupt in 5 years, and no program from this side is trying to protect it. This budget we are about to vote on is going to give us a $5 billion surplus in the year 2002 to begin the downpayment on our grandchildren's debt, an immoral debt, I might add, that we left them after 30 years voting ourselves wonderful government programs and just choosing not to pay for them. This budget is going to preserve and protect Medicare for our Nation's elderly for many years, but not enough yet until the baby-boomers come, and we are going to have to still deal with that. It is also going to give some tax relief for families with children up to $100,000 in income $500-per-child tax credit. These are for middle-class American families. All this baloney about the wealthy, but there are not capital gains cuts in this budget. These are for middle-class families, $500 per child tax relief. It is time to pass a responsible budget that comes to balance.”