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[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 9, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6299-S6300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

                          STOP THE DEMAGOGING

  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania 
for yielding a portion of his time. I do not think I will take the 5 
minutes.
  After the trauma and the tragedy that we have gone through in 
Oklahoma, it has diverted our attention from many of the other 
significant things that are taking place in this body. I think the most 
significant thing, second only to that tragedy in Oklahoma, is the 
tragedy, the revelation that was recently discovered of what is going 
to happen to Medicare in America and the demagoging that is taking 
place in this and other bodies concerning that trauma.
  Specifically, a report was released by the Medicare trustees that has 
come to the incontrovertible conclusion that our Medicare system, in 
absence of change, is going to go broke in the year 2002, approximately 
6\1/2\ years from now.
  I think it is important to look and see who was it who looked at the 
data, who studied the actuarial reports and came to that conclusion.
  There are six members of the Board of Trustees of Medicare. They are 
Robert Rubin, the Secretary of the Treasury, who was appointed by 
President Clinton; Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor, appointed by 
President Clinton; Donna Shalala, Secretary of HHS, appointed by 
President Clinton; Shirley Carter, Commissioner of Social Security, 
appointed by President Clinton; and Stanford Ross and David Walker.
  Four of the six members are appointments and work in the Clinton 
administration, and they have come up with the conclusion that Medicare 
will, in 
 [[Page S6300]]  fact, go broke in the year 2002. I think we know the 
reasons for it, and I will not get into that.
  Quoting from the report, it says, Medicare is ``severely out of 
financial balance and the trustees believe that Congress must take 
timely action to establish long-term financial stability for the 
program. The trustees believe that prompt, effective and decisive 
action is necessary.''
  Madam President, these are the trustees that were appointed by 
President Clinton, and what has happened since that time? Absolutely 
nothing. We have not heard one word out of the Clinton administration. 
We hear a lot of people criticizing Republicans because we want to do 
something to save a system, and they come up and say, ``The Republicans 
are suggesting that they are going to cut Medicare in order to pass a 
tax reduction.'' Nothing could be further from the truth, and that 
certainly is not true. But for the President to do nothing in facing 
this crisis is something that cannot be tolerated.
  The proposal that has been discussed by the Budget Committee 
chairman, Senator Domenici from New Mexico, has suggested that we put 
caps on the system, somewhere around 7 to 7.5 percent growth caps. In 
other words, the Republican budget is suggesting not that we have cuts 
in Medicare, but that we have increases in Medicare, but those 
increases will be capped somewhere between 7 and 7.5 percent, at an 
amount that has been actuarially determined that we will now have 
Medicare and it will not go bankrupt in the year 2002.
  Right now, Madam President, we have some 36 million people on 
Medicare. It is projected by the time 2002 comes, we will have 
something like 50 million Americans, 20 percent of all Americans, 
including myself, will be eligible for Medicare at that time.
  So I only say, it is time to stop the demagoging. We have a very 
serious problem on our hands. I believe the Republicans have a solution 
to that problem, but we should be getting some leadership from the 
White House at this time. This is not something with which we should be 
playing politics.
  I yield back to the Senator from Pennsylvania.

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