Byrd On Medicare Bill - 'A Classic Bait and Switch'

I had hoped to be extolling the virtues of a bill that would give needed relief to our nation's elderly. Instead, the Congress is voting on a measure that could undermine Medicare -- the most successful program the country has ever had. One that today's seniors know and trust.

The Congress should be fashioning a real prescription drug benefit. That is what the American people have been told we are doing. Instead, the Congress debates a major restructuring and a step toward the privatization of Medicare. It is a debate that has largely been hidden from the public. A debate that our nation's seniors did not ask for.

The conference report before us today was hatched behind closed doors. Most members of Congress have been largely excluded from the backroom deals that produced this conference report. Some have asserted this legislation is merely a Trojan horse designed to get rid of Medicare. I hope that that is not true. But there is something awfully suspicious about this particular horse that is galloping through the Congress.