April 3, 2001 Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I was very interested to hear the lack of response to the question that the Senator from North Dakota posed to the Senator from Oklahoma. The Senator from Oklahoma answered every question except the one that was posed to him. The simple question that was asked was what happens to the solvency of the Medicare trust fund if you use money out of that trust fund to provide a prescription drug benefit? The correct answer to that question is, you reduce the solvency of the Medicare trust fund. You make the trust fund go broke even sooner. That is what this chart shows. If you raid the Medicare trust fund to provide a prescription drug benefit, you make Medicare go broke sooner. That is why we on our side have taken the fiscally responsible course. The fiscally responsible course is to pay for a prescription drug benefit but not to touch one dime of the Social Security trust fund or the Medicare trust fund because that only endangers the solvency of those trust funds. So we have proposed a fiscally responsible plan, one that protects every penny of the Social Security trust fund, every penny of the Medicare trust fund, and then, with what remains, provides a tax cut with one-third of the money; with one-third of the money provides for the high-priority domestic needs including a specific program for prescription drugs. No, no, this is not just a matter of putting up a number. This is based on policy. This is based on a plan that is a prescription drug plan that is universal. Everybody who is eligible for Medicare can sign up. It is voluntary. If you do not want to belong, you do not have to belong. It provides enough support so people would actually be in the program, so you are not just getting the sickest people in and have a program that will not stand scrutiny over time. Then, with the final third, to fund this long-term debt that is growing because of our Social Security liability. That is a fiscally responsible plan. We do not rob Peter to pay Paul. We do not raid the Medicare trust fund to provide a new set of benefits when you need the money in that trust fund to keep the promises already made. The correct answer to the question I posed to the Senator from Oklahoma is, if you take money out of the Medicare trust fund to fund a prescription drug benefit, you hasten the insolvency of the Medicare trust fund. It goes broke sooner. We should not do that. That is a mistake. I thank the Chair.