[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 82 (Thursday, June 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S5917]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                MEDICARE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, there have been a number of speeches made 
today by colleagues on the other side of the aisle about Medicare. I 
ask the American public to understand the opposition to Medicare, as a 
program. For example, I wonder if those same Senators who talk about 
how they were rallying to help Medicare would recognize that just last 
year, late in the year, the majority leader of the Senate, Senator Dole 
said, ``I was there fighting the fight against Medicare, one of 12, 
because we knew it would not work in 1965.'' On that same day, at 
another place in Washington, a speech was given by the Speaker of the 
House, where he said, ``Now, let me talk about Medicare. We don't get 
rid of it in the first round because we don't think it would be 
politically smart. We believe it's going to wither on the vine.'' We 
have another leader in the House of Representatives, the majority 
leader, Dick Armey, a Congressman from Texas, who is second in command 
in the House of Representatives. He said, ``Medicare has no place in 
the free world. Social Security is a rotten trick. I think we are going 
to have to bite the bullet on Social Security and phase it out over 
time.''
  This is where they are coming from. The Republican leadership does 
not like Medicare. Look at what Haley Barbour said: ``This is manna 
from Heaven.'' The Republican National Committee chairman was 
responding to the Medicare trustees' report that was released when the 
Republicans were looking for a way to justify their scheme to cut 
Medicare. ``This is manna from Heaven''--the fact that the Medicare 
trust fund is in trouble.

  The fact of the matter is, Mr. President, we have had Medicare for 
some 27 years, and there have only been 2 years where in the annual 
report of the trustees it has indicated that Medicare is in trouble. 
The reason for that, of course, is that Medicare is a pay-as-you-go 
system. Every year, the trustees have said, ``You have to do something 
to take care of Medicare,'' and we do. One of the things we recently 
did, in 1993--all the Democrats did it, and we did not get a single 
Republican vote--is we extended the solvency of the trust fund for 3 
additional years.
  There is a lot of work that we need to do to take care of Medicare. 
Medicare is a tremendous program. In the early 1960's, less than 40 
percent of the American senior citizens had some type of health 
insurance. Today, almost 100 percent--over 99 percent--of senior 
citizens have health insurance. The reason they have health insurance 
is because of Medicare.
  Of course, there are things we need to do with Medicare. For people 
to stand, though, with a straight face and say, ``We are not cutting 
Medicare; all we are doing is cutting the rate of increase,'' certainly 
does not answer the question. We have thousands of people coming on the 
rolls--thousands and thousands of people--every week in the United 
States. People are living longer. During that period of life extension, 
they need additional health and medical care. Medicare has been a boon 
to these senior citizens in their older years to take care of that.
  We need money to do that. If you use the argument that has been used 
by my colleagues on the other side, where, in effect, Mr. President, 
they are saying, ``This is not a cut; we are only cutting the rate of 
increase,'' well, if that is a fact, we keep hearing on the Senate 
floor all the time about defense funding, defense forces. They talk 
about this increase that we are getting, and that a 5-percent increase 
is really a decrease in defense spending. Well, that same argument then 
would certainly apply to Medicare, a nominal funding increase of $1,653 
a person. But the fact of the matter is that the purchasing power is at 
a loss of about $1,000.
  So let us talk realistically. The fact that you raise the dollars 
does not mean in fact that you increase the ability of people to 
purchase. In fact, it is quite to the contrary.
  We know that the Speaker wants Medicare to wither on the vine. The 
majority leader in the Senate was glad that he voted against it in 1965 
because he said he knew it would not work--some 30 years ago.
  Well, we are willing to take care of the problems in Medicare. In the 
budget submitted by the President there is an extension of the problems 
with Medicare. There are a lot of things that we need to do, and we can 
do those. But the one thing that we cannot do is continue this 
Presidential debate and in the process damage the image of Medicare. 
Medicare has billions and billions of dollars in the trust fund today. 
Those trust fund dollars will continue to be there for the foreseeable 
future. We have to, as we have in years gone by, change certain things, 
and we are going to do that. But we are going to have to wait, it 
appears, until the Presidential election season is over before we can 
constructively take care of the problems with Medicare.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Kempthorne). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as if in 
morning business for 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair advises the Senator that we are in a 
period for morning business with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 
minutes.
  Mr. GREGG. I thank the Chair.

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