Political Quotes

“Thank you for yielding, and it's wonderful to be able to join my colleague from New York and my colleague from Texas in this discussion. It's so important for the American people, and I just want to remind my colleagues that 46 million to 47 million people, Americans, rely on Medicare for comprehensive health care coverage. When Medicare was first passed, more than half of those who were over 65 didn't have any health care coverage--more than half. Today, that's not true. Thirty percent of the number of elderly Americans lived in poverty before Medicare, and that number is now reduced to about 7\1/2\ percent. So the quality of life and the health care of our seniors has improved radically since Medicare's passage in 1965. So, what would it really mean to end Medicare? Well, it would mean that those seniors who are out in my congressional district and yours around the country would be subject, once again, to perhaps being one of the more than half of those who would not have comprehensive health care coverage. And I am struck, as you are, when I look at these lines of what is really causing our long-term debt. And I see this big orange glob right here into the future, and I realize that it is the Bush-era tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And I think, how fair is that to our seniors who are living on Medicare and Social Security? I look at the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.…”