Charles Rangel: “there is some talk on the other side that there will be no financial impact on the Medicare trust fund. And this would…”

“there is some talk on the other side that there will be no financial impact on the Medicare trust fund. And this would be so if they could be trusted to put the money back in. The question has to be, did they take out the money in the first place? I do not think in their closing statement that anyone on that side of the aisle can deny that if we remove the tax that the Medicare trust fund will be short $10 billion a year. But they say not to worry; trust us. Have they not played three-card Molly? Do they not know that once we show them what is under the shell, if it is not there, we will go to the general revenues and put it back? And that is what makes it having no financial impact. I would ask the question, what happens if the Congress decides that it has a priority? Maybe we want to take care of prescription drugs. Maybe we want to take care of the Patients' Bill of Rights. Maybe we want to protect the small businessperson or the farmer. Suppose the speculated surplus does not show up. One thing we know that my colleagues cannot deny is that there is an irreplaceable source and stream of income coming into the Medicare trust fund now. What they are saying is, let me just take it out and give relief to one-fifth of them at the expense of the other things we may want to do.”