I want to

welcome President Clinton to the debate on Medicare

reform.

Medicare reform has been a

cornerstone of efforts of the Republican-led Congress. We

have been, and will continue to be, totally committed to

Medicare reform. We will not play politics with an issue

as critical as the health of our seniors, as some have

today insinuated. We will have honesty and integrity in

the debate, and the record will be clear, as it has been

in the past.

Here is the record:

� In 1995, Congress passed

the Medicare Preservation Act providing major Medicare

reform. President Clinton vetoed the legislation.

� Despite the president's

strong opposition, Congress returned to the issue in the

next Congress, passing the legislation in 1997 with

sufficient support to discourage a veto. The enacted

measure ensured the solvency of the Medicare system

through 2010, provided significant new protections from

fraud and abuse, created new health coverage options and

new preventive benefits. The legislation also created a

bipartisan Commission on Medicare Reform, to make

recommendations for long-term Medicare reform.

� In early 1999, President

Clinton submitted his budget to Congress which proposed

overall to cut Medicare by $11.9 billion over five years

and $26.7 billion over ten years. In addition, he

proposed to impose $194 million in new user fees on

Medicare recipients. Congress rejected these proposed

cuts.

� The budget passed by

Congress sets aside 100 percent of the payroll taxes for

preserving the long-term solvency of Social Security and

Medicare. The plan includes $208.7 billion for Medicare

in FY 2000, increasing each year to $295.1 billion in FY

2005.

� Currently, the House

Ways and Means Committee is actively reviewing the

recommendations of the bipartisan Commission on Medicare

Reform and is drafting legislation to reflect conclusions

of the panel.

The proposal offered this

week by President Clinton would increase drug benefits

under Medicare, financed by $72 billion in unidentified

cost-cutting and $45.5 billion of the budget surplus. In

all, Clinton has proposed devoting $794 billion of the

surplus over the next 15 years to Medicare.

I believe all Americans

want to ensure the solvency of Medicare and Social

Security. Those who have paid taxes for these protections

deserve to have those protections. I believe Americans

also want to keep more of the income they earn, and not

keep pouring it into the abyss of the Internal Revenue

Service and federal government coffers. We must find the

balance.

Sen. John Breaux, the

Democratic chairman of the Medicare Commission, said

structural changes and not surpluses are needed:

"Throwing old money into this 1965 program is like

putting more gas in an old car. It still runs like an old

car."

I fully agree with the

chairman of the commission. We must develop fundamental

changes to the system. Simply throwing more money at the

problem will only make it worse.

Providing Medicare benefits

is very, very expensive; and the money spent on Medicare

comes from the pockets of taxpaying citizens. Our

responsibility is to tax prudently, to spend that money

wisely, and to provide a secure, efficient and effective

system of health care upon which we can all rely in our

senior years.

As a member of the Ways and

Means Committee which will develop this legislation, I am

totally committed to achieving this goal.

<!-------------