T. Gorton: “I cannot support the Kerrey-Brown amendment despite my longstanding record of voting in favor of budget reduction…”

“I cannot support the Kerrey-Brown amendment despite my longstanding record of voting in favor of budget reduction efforts. I will briefly review my objections to some of the amendment's provisions. First, I cannot support what I see as new taxes on senior citizens. The Kerrey-Brown amendment means tests several Medicare programs. President Clinton's budget unfairly affected these same people last summer. That budget included raises in Social Security taxes on income beyond $34,000 for single seniors. It is too soon to further increase the amount of money that the Federal Government takes from these people, many of modest means. Second, I cannot support the provision regarding COLA freezes for current civilian or military retirees. I feel that it is fundamentally unfair to change the rules of the game after the playing of the game. We made promises to these people during the time that they worked for the Federal Government or served in the Armed Forces. In my view, we should not pull the rug out from under one specific group of people without asking for across-the-board COLA reductions. Finally, I am concerned about the proposal to completely defer COLA's for military retirees before they turn 62.”