The further and harsher fact of the matter is that all we've done could be wiped out on a single day this November.

If Newt Gingrich is Speaker of the House, if Trent Lott is Majority Leader of the Senate, and if Bob Dole is President of the United States, Medicare and Medicaid will have no future.

I wish I were making this up.

Newt Gingrich says he wants Medicare to wither on the vine. Bob Dole brags about voting against Medicare thirty-some years ago. Trent Lott's different -- but only because he's smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

If I were Bob Dole, I'd be more careful about what I say on Medicare. He's going to be looking for work come November -- and he just might need it.

Thirty one years ago, it was my privilege to preside over the House of Representatives when we passed Medicare. When the gavel came down, we were making a promise to the American people. We said, if you work all your life, if you pay your taxes, you'll have an insurance program for your medical care that will free you from the threat of poverty in your retirement years.

That's a promise we've kept. A few simple facts say it all. Before Medicare, 1 in 3 elderly Americans lived in poverty. Today, after Medicare, it's close to 1 in 10. Before Medicare, less than half our elderly had health insurance. Today, almost every American senior citizen is covered.

And what about Medicaid? Medicaid is our second largest health care program. It covers almost as many Americans as Medicare. Nearly 75 million Americans get health care from these two worthy programs.

Who does Medicaid help? You'll hear a lot of people say, "Oh, Medicaid's for the poor."

Don't believe it for a second.

Medicaid is America's largest single purchaser of nursing home services and long term care. Medicaid pays for more than half the nursing home care provided in this country. This year more than 4 million American adults over the age of 65 will receive services from Medicaid. A great many of those people have lost most of their assets to the high medical or long-term care expenses that can accompany illness or disease later in life. Another 6 million disabled Americans, and about one in four American children are covered by Medicaid.

What do our Republican friends want to do to Medicaid?

They want to turn it into a marvelous thing called a block grant. They want to hand the money over to the states, and not require them to use the money for health care. They want to erase the guarantee of health care coverage for our elderly, our disabled, and our children.

Let me tell you what these small-minded Republicans did to Medicaid in our Congressional committee.

We asked them to go on record as promising a real guarantee for Medicaid patients. We asked them, very simply, to put it in writing.

We offered an amendment that would guarantee nursing home services. They said no, on a party line vote.

We asked them to guarantee coverage for elderly people with Alzheimer's. They said no, on a party line vote.

We went down the list. How about a guarantee for veterans? No.

How about a guarantee for those elderly NOW living in nursing homes? No.

What about children? No.

What about pregnant women and infants? No. What about letting the elderly choose their own nursing homes? No.

What they said was that if you've got a spouse or a parent or a grandparent in a nursing home, "You're on your own. It's a jungle out there."

I think it's our duty in November to show some of these animals just what a jungle it is.

You've got to wonder about the priorities of this Republican Congress. The House Commerce Committee held a six hour hearing on the relocation of sports franchises. That's more time than we spent in hearings on the Republican budget's Medicare and Medicaid proposals.

In fact, last year they held a hearing on Medicare. There was just one problem. They didn't ask any seniors to testify.

Well, it turned out that some senior citizens had the audacity to ask if they could speak. Can you believe that? Senior citizens wanting to express their views on the future of Medicare? What's next? Students wanting to talk about college loans?

My Republican friends were so shocked that some seniors wanted to speak that they had them arrested and handcuffed, and closed the hearing down. I see some of those very same seniors here today, and I want them to know that they're always welcome in my office.

As we look toward a critical election this November, we need to remember this: The Republicans never wanted Medicare and they've never liked it. They say they want to cut it to save it. They remind me of the fisherman who was trying to clean his catch: "Don't worry, little fishy. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just going to gut you."

It's been said that Medicare is the third rail of American politics. Let's make sure that some Republicans in Congress get a shock this November.

I remember what life was like before Medicare. I'm not going to let anyone turn back the clock. My dad fought long and hard for health insurance for everyone. As long as I draw breath, I'm going to keep up that fight. And as long as I can count on friends like the National Council of Senior Citizens, we're going to win many more fights than we lose.

Thank you and God bless you.

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