Barney Frank: “To some extent we are trying to protect one of those ideas from 40 years ago that he so denigrates. One in particular is…”

“To some extent we are trying to protect one of those ideas from 40 years ago that he so denigrates. One in particular is called Medicare. It is about 36 years old. It is part of that 40-year history. It was when it was opposed by most Republican. They have grudgingly accepted its existence, but they continue to try to whittle it away, and one consequence of this tax cutting for the wealthy that the Republicans have indulged in is to endanger Medicare, and in fact, one casualty of their policy was that prescription drug program for the elderly. The lock box to which they all pledged fealty long since went out the window, and we all now have clearly a policy which makes the prescription drug program for the elderly impossible. The President has instead offered them a card so they can go get some retail druggist to give a discount out of the retail druggist pocket. Yes, the gentleman is right, some of us are defending some of the ideas that came during the previous 40 years, and Medicare is a prime example of one of those policies which resulted from Democrats beating Republicans over that 40 years and the Republicans trying to get their revenge on it today.”