[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 71 (Monday, May 17, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 TRIBUTE TO THE SENIORS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN HONOR OF OLDER 
                            AMERICANS MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 17, 1999

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me 
in celebrating National Older Americans Month in the District of 
Columbia. District of Columbia seniors will come to the National 
Arboretum in the District of Columbia on Tuesday, May 18th for an 
afternoon of information about the programs Congress provides for 
senior citizens, for entertainment, and for lunch. Our senior citizens 
have earned this information and celebration I have for them each year 
at a place of interest in the District. We have celebrated National 
Older Americans Month at the National Cathedral, the FDR Memorial, the 
National Zoo, museums, and similarly interesting settings, some of 
which our seniors rarely get to visit.
  The growing number of senior citizens in the District, one third of 
whom are over 80, have contributed to the best days of the nation's 
capital. As young people, they helped build this city to its strongest 
point, and as seniors today, they are helping to bring revitalization 
to the District.
  Senior citizens in my District want the 106th Congress to know that 
the Social Security and Medicare programs have done more to make their 
senior years secure and healthy than any programs ever enacted by the 
Congress. Today, the Social Security program alone has taken one out of 
every three elderly Americans out of poverty and has rescued 60% of 
elderly women from poverty. In 1997, almost half of all elderly 
Americans would have had incomes below the poverty line without their 
Social Security benefits.
  Today's seniors have fought hard to preserve their Social Security. 
Those who worry most about Social Security are younger baby boomers and 
their children. This Congress must make sure that the progressive 
benefit structure with annual increases is available for generations to 
come.
  Far more problematic and worrisome for the District's seniors is the 
future of Medicare. At my Senior Legislative Day, I want to focus my 
own constituents on the immediate problems of Medicare, which runs out 
of money in 2008. Seniors, like other Americans, are being directed to 
HMOs in order to allow the program to achieve cost savings. Yet, 
already, we see many of the HMOs dropping seniors because the federal 
government has been unwilling to fund sufficiently these HMO senior 
programs. We have not met the challenge of doing what must be done for 
Medicare--making the savings necessary to save the program while 
assuring seniors that the benefits are sufficient to make the programs 
worth saving. Passage of the President's Patients' Bill of Rights is a 
crucial part of this effort.
  On May 18th, the District's seniors will also be discussing the 
intolerable costs of prescription drugs not covered by Medicare. The 
Congress has not yet faced the challenges of the increasing use of 
costly medicines which are being used instead of more costly invasive 
procedures. The burden of these costs has been put entirely on seniors. 
It is a burden they cannot bear and should not bear.
  Medicare has been a virtually universal program, with virtually all 
Americans covered, regardless of income. The need for healthcare tends 
to increase with age. It is certain that Medicare has saved and 
lengthened millions of American lives. On May 18th, at my Seniors 
Legislative Day, I intend to assure the seniors of the District of 
Columbia that I will have no greater priority than preserving Medicare. 
I ask the 106th Congress to help me keep that promise.

                          ____________________