Political Quotes

“Inspector General's report released yesterday determined that the Medicare actuary provided accurate cost information about the Medicare bill to a select group of Members of Congress but not to all Members of Congress. This was because the Medicare administrator at the time threatened the actuary, Richard Foster, with the loss of his job if he disclosed the accurate information to all Members of Congress. These Members, the select group, chose to keep this information to themselves from other Members of Congress and, more importantly, from all the American taxpayers who are footing the bill for the $550 billion Medicare bill. When we debated the Medicare bill on this floor, leaders in this Congress told us it would cost $400 billion, and we believed that this was true to the best of their knowledge. It is unfortunate that Members of this House were disrespectful to the taxpayers who are now going to pay an additional $150 billion, and with their colleagues, they withheld essential information about the true cost of the prescription drug bill. Even before a single senior citizen has received the benefit, taxpayers will be hit with another $150 billion bill. This unwelcome surprise could have been avoided if this administration, Members of Congress and the leadership had shared the information they had about this bill.”