Cornyn Leads Republican Conference in Calling on President to Comply With Federal Law & Address Medicare Funding
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. To keep the government from going into further debt prevent the bankruptcy of Medicare and protect Americas seniors U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) a member of the Senate Finance Committee today led a group of nearly every member of the Senate Republican Conference in a letter to President Obama stating that the Administration stands in violation of federal law section 802 of P.L. 108-173 the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003. In the letter Sen. Cornyn and his colleagues ask the President to comply with federal law by immediately submitting to Congress the Administrations legislative proposal for addressing the Medicare funding warning issued in the 2010 Medicare Trustees Report.
In 2008 the Bush Administration in compliance with Section 802 of the MMA submitted a legislative proposal to Congress which was never acted upon. Your Administration however has failed to submit such a proposal for the last three years. This not only defies federal law but also abdicates your Administrations responsibility to lead" the Senators wrote.
Video of Senator Cornyns floor speech on the letter can be found here.
The text of the letter follows:
June 15 2011
President Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
We write to urge you to submit a legislative proposal to Congress in response to the Medicare funding warning issued in the 2010 Medicare Trustees Report. Such a proposal would help prevent the bankruptcy of this vital program for Americas seniors and keep the federal government from going further into debt. Furthermore such a proposal would put your Administration back in compliance with federal law.
Your Administration is currently in violation of section 802 of P.L. 108-173 the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA). The MMA required the Medicare Trustees to include in their annual report an estimate of whether general fund revenues will finance more than 45 percent of total Medicare expenditures in any of the following six years. If the Trustees estimate in two consecutive years that the 45-percent limit will be breached within a seven year timeframe the Administration is then required to submit a legislative proposal that would address the funding crisis within 15 days of submitting its annual budget proposal to Congress.
The Medicare Trustees have complied with federal law and have issued funding warnings every year since 2007. In 2008 the Bush Administration in compliance with Section 802 of the MMA submitted a legislative proposal to Congress which was never acted upon. Your Administration however has failed to submit such a proposal for the last three years.
This not only defies federal law but also abdicates your Administrations responsibility to lead. As you know mandatory spending is currently projected to grow at an average of 5.4 percent per year over the next 10 years growing from $2 trillion in 2012 to $3.3 trillion by 2021. The largest claim on the budget over the next 75 years is Medicare estimated at $35 trillion.
We ask you to comply with the law and submit to Congress the Administrations legislative proposal addressing the Medicare funding warning included in the 2010 Annual Report of the Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds.
Sincerely
John Cornyn United States Senator
Lamar Alexander United States Senator
Kelly Ayotte United States Senator
John Barrasso United States Senator
Roy Blunt United States Senator
John Boozman United States Senator
Richard Burr United States Senator
Saxby Chambliss United States Senator
Dan Coats United States Senator
Tom Coburn United States Senator
Thad Cochran United States Senator
Bob Corker United States Senator
Mike Crapo United States Senator
Jim DeMint United States Senator
Mike Enzi United States Senator
Lindsey Graham United States Senator
Chuck Grassley United States Senator
Orrin Hatch United States Senator
Dean Heller United States Senator
John Hoeven United States Senator
Kay Bailey Hutchison United States Senator
James Inhofe United States Senator
Johnny Isakson United States Senator
Mike Johanns United States Senator
Ron Johnson United States Senator
Mark Kirk United States Senator
Jon Kyl United States Senator
Mike Lee United States Senator
Richard Lugar United States Senator
John McCain United States Senator
Mitch McConnell United States Senator
Jerry Moran United States Senator
Lisa Murkowski United States Senator
Rand Paul United States Senator
Rob Portman United States Senator
James E. Risch United States Senator
Pat Roberts United States Senator
Marco Rubio United States Senator
Jeff Sessions United States Senator
Richard Shelby United States Senator
John Thune United States Senator
Pat Toomey United States Senator
David Vitter United States Senator
Roger Wicker United States Senator
