Jennifer Dunn: “I want to talk about Medicare. Yesterday the Treasury Department reported a new and totally unexpected $4.2 billion…”

“I want to talk about Medicare. Yesterday the Treasury Department reported a new and totally unexpected $4.2 billion shortfall in the Medicare trust fund during the first half of the current fiscal year. Just a year ago, this very same fund had projected a surplus of $45 million for fiscal year 1996. My parents, the Blackburns in Bellevue, WA, probably did not read that news story, but it is critically important to them because they, like millions of others, count on the Medicare system being solvent. More than a year ago President Clinton's Medicare trustees, including three members of his own Cabinet, warned that Medicare would be bankrupt by 2002 if no changes were made. Yet the President did nothing to change it. He offered no long-term solutions and he offered no leadership. In fact, all he offered was election year scare tactics designed to frighten senior citizens. Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. Congressional Republicans in response to people like my parents have offered leadership. We want to save benefits for our seniors and save the Medicare trust fund, and we want to do it now while it is still possible.”