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American Morning

Interview with Senator Edward Kennedy

Aired November 24, 2003 - 09:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts has threatened to filibuster to block today's vote, a strong critic of this Medicare proposal. The senator from Massachusetts is with us today, live from Capitol Hill.
Welcome back to American Morning. Nice to see you.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Do you have the votes to filibuster right now?

KENNEDY: It's an uphill battle. You must remember that we had a bipartisan prescription drug program that was a real prescription drug program, that passed to the United States Senate with 76 votes. But that's not what we're considering here on the floor of the United States Senate today.

What we are considering is a rewrite of Medicare, a rewrite of Medicare. Medicare works well. Our seniors have great confidence and trust in it. It's the relationship between our seniors and their doctor and their health care system. That is what is being undermined. That is what is going to be privatized with this particular proposal.

The Republicans have hijacked effectively the prescription drug bill and have a undermining of a Medicare bill. That's why...

HEMMER: Senator, can I stop you there for a second and talk about privatize?

KENNEDY: Sure.

HEMMER: This is a program right now that's set up as a pilot program to operate in six different parts of the country and it really doesn't kick in for another seven years. Isn't that a bit of an overstatement, when you talk about hijacking the Medicare program?

KENNEDY: No. Not at all. I mean, why does it really need any study at all, when the administration's own projections is it'll mean a minimum of 25 percent increase in premiums for every elderly citizen in this country?

Why do we need that kind of experiment? Can you possibly tell me why? I asked that question for the last 48 hours on the floor of the United States Senate and our good Republican friends couldn't tell us. But beyond that, they are going to see now billions of dollars that are going to be sent to the HMOs in order to coerce our seniors to go to the HMOs, in order to get their prescription drug program. All we needed to do is add a good prescription drug program on the tried and tested and believed Medicare system and that would have passed with strong bipartisan support. This...

HEMMER: Senator.

KENNEDY: ... is a sham and it's going to do an enormous disservice to our elderly. That's why every elderly organization outside the AARP is strongly, opposed for it and why the AARP isn't really speaking for its members and...

HEMMER: If I could, though, the Republican critics say the program's too big and the spending's too much -- $400 billion in their estimation does not meet the objectives of the Republican Party.

From a political standpoint...

KENNEDY: But there's a lot...

HEMMER: ... are you concerned, senator, that the Republicans are now stealing this issue away from the Democrats?

KENNEDY: Well, they -- no, because even if they have the votes to win today, this issue isn't going to go away. The more our seniors find out about it, the more concern that they have and the more distress.

I was here -- not many years ago, when the Senate passed the catastrophic health program and all of our friends were cheering. It was only a matter of weeks or a few months before they came back and repealed it. So I've been here.

And when we have something that is as much of a turkey as this bill is, because it really threatens Medicare, that is the issue.

It's the Republican-passed bill from the House of Representatives that was only a Republican bill, and were virtually an only Republican bill that cut through the House the other night after the Republican leadership had to gag effectively to members over there to get the bill passed.

That isn't going to sell with out seniors. We're going to come back here and get it right. That's what the Democrats are committed to. The fact is Medicare works well. We...

HEMMER: Thank you, senator.

KENNEDY: OK. Thanks.

HEMMER: Thank you. We'll watch it from here. Senator Kennedy from Capitol Hill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 24, 2003 - 09:20   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts has threatened to filibuster to block today's vote, a strong critic of this Medicare proposal. The senator from Massachusetts is with us today, live from Capitol Hill.
Welcome back to American Morning. Nice to see you.

SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Do you have the votes to filibuster right now?

KENNEDY: It's an uphill battle. You must remember that we had a bipartisan prescription drug program that was a real prescription drug program, that passed to the United States Senate with 76 votes. But that's not what we're considering here on the floor of the United States Senate today.

What we are considering is a rewrite of Medicare, a rewrite of Medicare. Medicare works well. Our seniors have great confidence and trust in it. It's the relationship between our seniors and their doctor and their health care system. That is what is being undermined. That is what is going to be privatized with this particular proposal.

The Republicans have hijacked effectively the prescription drug bill and have a undermining of a Medicare bill. That's why...

HEMMER: Senator, can I stop you there for a second and talk about privatize?

KENNEDY: Sure.

HEMMER: This is a program right now that's set up as a pilot program to operate in six different parts of the country and it really doesn't kick in for another seven years. Isn't that a bit of an overstatement, when you talk about hijacking the Medicare program?

KENNEDY: No. Not at all. I mean, why does it really need any study at all, when the administration's own projections is it'll mean a minimum of 25 percent increase in premiums for every elderly citizen in this country?

Why do we need that kind of experiment? Can you possibly tell me why? I asked that question for the last 48 hours on the floor of the United States Senate and our good Republican friends couldn't tell us. But beyond that, they are going to see now billions of dollars that are going to be sent to the HMOs in order to coerce our seniors to go to the HMOs, in order to get their prescription drug program. All we needed to do is add a good prescription drug program on the tried and tested and believed Medicare system and that would have passed with strong bipartisan support. This...

HEMMER: Senator.

KENNEDY: ... is a sham and it's going to do an enormous disservice to our elderly. That's why every elderly organization outside the AARP is strongly, opposed for it and why the AARP isn't really speaking for its members and...

HEMMER: If I could, though, the Republican critics say the program's too big and the spending's too much -- $400 billion in their estimation does not meet the objectives of the Republican Party.

From a political standpoint...

KENNEDY: But there's a lot...

HEMMER: ... are you concerned, senator, that the Republicans are now stealing this issue away from the Democrats?

KENNEDY: Well, they -- no, because even if they have the votes to win today, this issue isn't going to go away. The more our seniors find out about it, the more concern that they have and the more distress.

I was here -- not many years ago, when the Senate passed the catastrophic health program and all of our friends were cheering. It was only a matter of weeks or a few months before they came back and repealed it. So I've been here.

And when we have something that is as much of a turkey as this bill is, because it really threatens Medicare, that is the issue.

It's the Republican-passed bill from the House of Representatives that was only a Republican bill, and were virtually an only Republican bill that cut through the House the other night after the Republican leadership had to gag effectively to members over there to get the bill passed.

That isn't going to sell with out seniors. We're going to come back here and get it right. That's what the Democrats are committed to. The fact is Medicare works well. We...

HEMMER: Thank you, senator.

KENNEDY: OK. Thanks.

HEMMER: Thank you. We'll watch it from here. Senator Kennedy from Capitol Hill.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com