Political Quotes

“I would like to address a specific issue in the next 100 days in the Senate that I think is going to attract a lot of attention. It has already attracted a lot of attention. It is an issue of great importance to this country and people rely on this program--that is the Medicare Program. There is a lot of discussion going on in this town--and I hope across America-- about Medicare and where it fits in with the scheme of things here in Washington. Is Medicare going to be used to balance the budget? Is Medicare a program that is in trouble? What is the truth? What is the real story and who do you believe? Unfortunately, in Washington, that is a problem we have a lot, which is that every issue, irrespective of the importance of the issue, turns into a partisan battle, and one side says one thing and the other side says another. You would think with an issue such as Medicare, with the information we have before us, that we could act as adults and face the problem squarely, maturely, discuss it, debate it, and come up with a solution to the problem. But as is the case around here all too often, political gain comes before responsible action. We have folks who think we can make political gains from Medicare, so let us delay responsible action for a while and see how much hey we can make in the process. Here are the facts. The facts are that the Medicare trustees issued a report that says that Medicare will be insolvent by the year 2002.”