PRESS RELEASE
October 24, 1996

STATEMENT BY JOE LOCKHART
NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY

Another Bob Dole anniversary. Another Bob Dole vote against the issues that matter most to Americans. In 1965, Bob Dole voted against creating the Medicare program -- a program which preserves health care benefits for 37 million elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries. A year ago today, Bob Dole bragged about that 1965 vote against Medicare saying, "I was there, fighting the fight, voting against Medicare -- one of twelve -- because we knew it wouldn’t work in 1965."

Thirty years later, Bob Dole is still "fighting the fight" against Medicare. The 1995 Dole/Gingrich budget cut Medicare by $270 billion -- the largest cut in history. And now he has a risky $550 billion tax scheme that threatens even deeper cuts in Medicare. Even his own campaign co-chair Al D’Amato said that Dole would have "to look at Medicare" to pay for his risky, budget scheme.

President Clinton has fought to protect Medicare -- to bring security and dignity to the lives of our nation’s seniors. Meanwhile, Bob Dole has spent the last thirty years opposing and undermining Medicare -- delivering through his words and actions the frightening message that under his risky scheme no program is safe, not even Medicare.

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