Political Quotes

“I rise today, and join my colleagues, Senator Mack and Senator Baucus, to introduce timely legislation that addresses a problem that continues to plague the Medicare Program-- fraud and abuse. The premise of this bill is quite simple: if Congress is to look for cuts in the Medicare Program, it should begin with eradicating fraud--for several reasons: First, we cannot fix Medicare while letting fraud erode the system. The General Accounting Office estimates that the Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse ripoff rate is about 10 percent. With fraud pilfering the health system's resources losses to Medicare and the Federal share of Medicaid could be $30 billion annually. Using the most conservative of estimates, we could cover an additional 2 million seniors a year with funds lost just to Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse. Mr. President, over the next few weeks, Congress will be ironing out the details of a historic budget agreement--one which will finally balance the budget. And both Congress and the President deserve credit for doing so. However, a balanced budget does not come without some pain--some consequences. For instance, the Medicare Program will realize cuts of approximately $115 billion over the next 5 years. We will be asking our Nation's seniors to share in the sacrifice along with the rest of the country.”