Political Quotes

“we need to move beyond the harsh rhetoric, the sound bites, the slick language that emanates from focus groups. We have got to be honest. Medicine is in deeper trouble than we realized before. It began losing money last year a full 2 years earlier than anyone had thought it would, and it will be bankrupt in just 5 years unless we find a solution and begin to spend smarter. Mr. Speaker, this is not a partisan issue. Medicare is a program that is paid for by taxes on the wages of working people and by seniors through their premiums. We must find a solution to protect it, not only for current seniors but also for future generations. We owe it to our workers and our seniors and the needs of the future generations of this country. Mr. Speaker, the key to the solution is to attack waste, fraud, and abuse. We need to spend smarter. If we can just slow the growth of Medicare by spending smarter, we can save the system and give seniors in Maine and across the country a better program. But what we cannot do is make Medicare a partisan issue.”