Congress Moves Closer to Medicare Reform
DOBBS: Hillary the hawk? That's how it seemed at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Senator Clinton ripped into a Pentagon recommendation yesterday to cut costs by shutting down dozens of schools and low cost shops for GI families who live on base. The former first lady won praise from no other, no less than General Peter Schoomaker, the new Army chief of staff. The general called it "a great point" and he said it's absolutely important to boost soldier morale by improving benefits. Opponents of Democratic presidential frontrunner Howard Dean have been quick to criticize Dean's latest proposal to re-regulate a number of American industries. Retired Army General Wesley Clark called Dean's plans a, quote, "major departure from the proven economic strategy." Senator Joseph Lieberman warns Dean's plan would, quote, "give us a treacherous trifecta of policies that turn back the economic clock. Either he doesn't know how to turn the economy around, or this is another reckless mistake." A Dean's spokesman responded to critics, saying Democrats who are not concerned with protecting the average American are truly out of touch. Republican congressional leaders are pushing to move ahead a $400 billion Medicare reform bill to the House floor perhaps as early as tonight. That sweeping legislation has been in conference since July. Democrats have sharply criticized the nation's largest lobby group, the AARP, for endorsing that bill earlier this week. They say the plan would threaten traditional Medicare, it would raise costs for the elderly. Joining me now to talk about this issue, Republican Congressman Bill Thomas of California, the powerful chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Good to have you with us, Mr. Chairman.</s>REP. BILL THOMAS (R-CA), CHAIRMAN, WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE: Nice to see you, Lou.</s>DOBBS: At this point, that $400 billion legislation, give or take a few billion dollars, I guess you can say in Washington, how close are you to a vote? And do you have the votes?</s>THOMAS: Well, we're in the process of building the votes. It's actually $394 billion. We were authorized to spend $400 and we didn't spend it all. You're also right in your description, Lou, that it is Medicare reform. The current system can't sustain itself in terms of cost. It seems kind of contradictory to say that we're also adding the new prescription drug benefit. But frankly, seniors need prescription drugs under the national health care program. That means the compromise that was reached between the Republicans and the Democrats was to make sure that we have a better modernized Medicare in terms of services, but we begin to look at ways in which we can share the costs of the program with the beneficiaries, and that we can put into at least a test mode the ability to have the taxpayers pay the least costly delivery structure of Medicare, not the most costly.</s>DOBBS: This prescription drug benefit, frankly, the AARP said they're going to endorse this proposal, and they have, simply because they think it's the only thing possible in the next several years. Do you agree?</s>THOMAS: Oh, I absolutely agree. The House had passed for three consecutive Congresses a prescription drug modernization bill. The Senate never had. The Senate finally was able to pass it. You just described a conference, which was a very difficult one, frankly the most difficult I've been on, and I was privileged to chair it, for almost four months. We came to a bipartisan agreement. All we have to do is get a majority of the House and the majority of the Senate to say yes. What we will have done was modernize Medicare, provide seniors with prescription drugs, and created a cost-sharing and cost containment structure to make sure that that more than 140 million taxpayers currently paying the Medicare costs will have a program when they're ready to try to use it as well.</s>DOBBS: And at this point, and I talked with you enough to know, Congressman Thomas, that when you make a certain statement, there are -- some things follow. When you were talking about this vote, are you having more difficulty in winning votes from conservatives or more difficulty in winning votes right now from Democrats?</s>THOMAS: Well, both, actually. Because this is a true compromise. It expands an entitlement. A number of conservatives are very concerned. Because it contains some cost containment and some cost-sharing structures, a number of liberal Democrats don't want to have that kind of a change be placed in Medicare. So interestingly, both ends of the political spectrum are the ones that are not as happy as they would like to be, because it isn't the usual partisan politics war. It is the mass center that we're trying to get to agree to provide this product. It is overdue, but the structure needs to be reformed, as well. It is what I would call a classic compromise, where both sides got a little bit of what we think we need, and it deserves to go to the president's desk for his signature.</s>DOBBS: Will it pass? In the House?</s>THOMAS: I have done a lot of legislation and we've won by one or two or three votes. And so if you ask me if I think I can pass it, you're asking me, would I bet against myself? And I guess my answer would be I wouldn't bet against myself.</s>DOBBS: And they think that Medicare legislation is complicated, we'll be diagramming that answer, Congressman, for a little while here.</s>THOMAS: Lou, it deserves to pass and we're going to do everything to pass it, because the taxpayers deserve it and the seniors deserve it.</s>DOBBS: Congressman Bill Thomas, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, thanks for being here.</s>THOMAS: Thank you.</s>DOBBS: Coming up next, a critical eye on CBS and some recent programming decisions that are at the very least questionable. We'll have the story. Much more still ahead.