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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6291-S6292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                             FRESHMAN FOCUS

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I would like to use our time this morning 
as a followup on the freshman focus that we have been carrying on for 
several weeks and attempt to continue. Some of my colleagues will join 
later in the morning and then again on Thursday.
  As you know, the freshman class has made an effort to talk about the 
issues that are before the American people, that are before this 
Congress, and to focus on solving these problems, to focus on the 
notion that we need to find solutions--solutions that will help us to 
deliver services more efficiently, will help us to reduce the cost of 
Government, and will help us to be more effective in dealing with the 
problems of this country and, at the same time, reduce the size of 
Government.
  So we are interested in exercising the first opportunity that we have 
had for a number of years to really analyze programs that have been in 
effect, in many cases, for 30 to 40 years. Frankly, the effort that has 
been made during that time was simply to add more money to the same 
program. I think most now would agree that it is time to analyze the 
effect, the impact, and the product of those programs. And we have, for 
the first time, a chance to do that.
  We have a chance to change some of the efforts that have not 
succeeded--and there are some--so they are done in a different way. We 
hope our efforts will help us move forward in the Senate and in the 
Congress, to solving problems rather than to obstruct or just set down 
political issues for elections.
  Today we want to talk about two issues that are very compelling which 
are before us and, frankly, issues that we have no alternative other 
than to solve. One is the budget; the other is Medicare.
  Our purpose this week is to talk largely about Medicare. It is 
clearly related to the budget and, as a result, the two must be talked 
about together.
   [[Page S6292]] Mr. President, Thomas Jefferson said, ``The art of 
government is the art of being honest.'' I think that is what we are 
faced with. This matter of Medicare and the budget is not a problem of 
the Congress, not a problem of those who are trustees; it is a problem 
for all of us who are citizens of this country, not only for the 
benefits that it provides, but each of us who must also pay. We need to 
be honest with one another as to where we are. The idea of covering up 
problems because it is politically expedient, or the idea that you can 
shift problems to somebody else because it is an uncomfortable 
political position simply does not hold. We have to be honest, face the 
problems, and talk about them. There are clearly some problems in this 
area of finance.
  Let me talk just a minute about the chart. We are into charts around 
here and it is not a bad idea. It does demonstrate where we are. This 
particular chart talks about the Medicare hospital insurance trust 
fund. It talks about the fact that if we do nothing, it will be 
bankrupt in 7 years. The chart shows the end-of-year trust fund 
balances up to 1995, and then projects the balances for the years up to 
2004. This is not just a chart that is put together for these kinds of 
purposes. This is a chart that is a result of the Social Security and 
Medicare Board of Trustee report that was released just a couple of 
weeks ago. The trustees being at least three or four members from the 
Cabinet and some public members. They have indicated this fund will be 
bankrupt in the year 2002 unless we do something. The balance in the 
health care insurance trust fund was $133 billion in 1994 and will rise 
to $136 billion in 1995.
  In 1996, however, the annual deficits starts to erode the balance of 
$136 billion and will be broke in 2002. So that is the problem. It is a 
solvable problem. But it is not one that we can brush under the door, 
one that we can ignore, or one to make political issues of. It is one 
that we must indeed solve.
  The next chart shows the impact this spending has on the gross 
domestic product. The blue being Medicare part A; and the yellow part 
is Medicare part B. Part A is the hospital portion that is funded by 
payroll taxes. Part B is that portion that is funded by general funds 
and beneficiary premiums. You can see how it grows. Here is 1970 and, 
more currently, in 1995; here we are in the year 2020, as a percentage 
of gross domestic product. This current period is just below 3 percent, 
doubling in this period of time.
  So we clearly have an issue we have to deal with. The alternative is 
for the program to go broke. The alternative is not to have the 
services and that, of course, is not acceptable. Unfortunately, the 
current administration's position is to ignore the problem. It is to 
say, gee, it is up to the majority to do something about that. I think 
that is too bad. I think it is going to have to be something that we do 
collectively, but we can do something about it.
  Why are we where we are? Because this program has grown at a rate of 
about 10 percent per year, and it continues to do so, as opposed to the 
private sector health care which has been growing at a more moderate 
rate of about 5 percent a year. This year, it was 4.4 percent and it is 
on its way down. Yet the Medicare Program continues to go up. Now, some 
say--and I go back to the political thing--``You Republicans simply 
want to cut Medicare so you can give tax cuts.'' That is not true. That 
is not where we are. The issue is to fix Medicare so that we can 
continue to have it over a period of time. There simply is not enough 
money to leave it as it is and just simply fund it without changing it. 
That is not an alternative. All the money that we have would be in this 
program.
  So the alternative is to find some ways to reduce this growth. What 
we are talking about doing--and I think you will see generally in the 
budget, which is not out yet--you will see an effort to reduce it from 
the 10.5 percent growth to a growth of maybe 7 percent. We will see in 
the newspapers that they slashed Medicare, cut Medicare. But what we 
have done is sought to reduce the growth of Medicare, and then we will 
find some ways to do it more efficiently. There are ways to do that, to 
give some options. For example, for those elderly who choose to 
continue as is, that will be an option. For those who would like to 
move toward some kind of medical savings account, perhaps that will be 
an option and that would be a choice, and it will be a reduction in the 
cost of delivering the same medicine.
  The point is that we need to be honest with ourselves in terms of 
what we are doing. This is not a political kind of football or struggle 
to see who gets political advantage. The real issue is how do you 
continue to provide services to people who need services and do it in a 
way that you can, over time, pay for it. That is the issue. Of course, 
it is part of the budget, because the budget is how much money we can 
put out to run Government and what kind of benefits we can have.
  As for Medicare part B, I suspect there will be an effort to maintain 
the contributions that are now there--approximately 31 percent instead 
of 25 percent of the premium that is required to finance it. We have 
been moving up at 31 percent. We can go back, but if we hold it at 31 
percent, the program will continue to be preserved. So there are 
alternatives. They are not draconian.
  This is where we are on Medicare. I think it is an excellent example 
of our opportunity in this Congress to find some solutions to share 
with Americans--all of us--the responsibility of making collective 
decisions, to meet the responsibility of continuing to have programs 
where there is need, and to do it in a responsible financial way.
  Mr. President, I hope that we can go forward with the bona fide 
discussion of Medicare and a bona fide discussion of balancing the 
budget. I do not think anybody will suggest that it is going to be 
painless. It is not painless in your family when you find you have to 
cut back on the growth of expenditures. It is not painless in your 
business when you discover that it is necessary to make some changes in 
order to make it work. But it is very possible. It is very possible.
  It can be done by continuing to provide those essential services, 
doing them in a more efficient way, and we can collectively do that.
  I am pleased that my associates from the freshman class will be on 
the floor, talking about this issue and other issues, urging Members to 
take advantage of the opportunity and, indeed, the request, if not 
demand, from voters for change. There has been a demand for change. 
There will be change. This is our opportunity to do that.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. DASCHLE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Thompson). The Democratic leader is 
recognized for 20 minutes.

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