ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 21, 1996 TAG: 9609230049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Virginia Journal
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE
Neither John nor Mark Warner strays from his party's line when talking about Medicare.
U.S. Sen. John Warner voted for a 1995 Republican budget that would have slowed Medicare spending by $270 billion over seven years. He describes that budget as a courageous first step to ensure Medicare's solvency.
Democratic challenger Mark Warner replies there is nothing heroic about a budget that would have taken medical benefits from senior citizens to finance a $240 billion tax cut, most of it benefiting the wealthiest Americans.
As yet, neither of Virginia's Senate candidates has moved beyond these lines, which echo a national partisan flap, to talk frankly about the long-term sacrifices needed to save the hospitalization plan that serves 825,000 Virginians age 65 or older and disabled Virginians.
"When it comes to middle-class issues, politicians flinch," said James Ridge, spokesman for the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group advocating a balanced federal budget.
A poll conducted this summer for The Roanoke Times indicates that most Virginians - 58 percent - want leaders who will tell them what government can and cannot do.
But neither candidate is talking about the harsh realities of Medicare, which could go bankrupt by 2001. Even if the growth slowed, the system soon could be overwhelmed by the wave of baby boomers who will begin retiring in 2010. The elderly population will surge to the point where more than one in five Americans will qualify for Medicare by 2030.
Experts offer several long-term solutions, all requiring seniors to pay higher premiums and receive fewer services.
The Republican Congress - with John Warner's support - sought to address the short-term problem last year by voting to slow Medicare spending growth by $270 billion. Put another way, the Republicans increased Medicare spending, but by a smaller amount than had been projected. But Republicans were criticized by Democrats for voting at the same time for a $240 billion tax cut.
President Clinton vetoed the bill, accusing Republicans of balancing the budget on the backs of seniors.
Mark Warner has made the same argument at a series of campaign appearances at senior centers this week and in a TV ad, which casts John Warner as an ideologue dancing to the tune of House Speaker Newt Gingrich by "cutting" Medicare.
This week, John Warner accused his challenger of distorting his record and trying to scare the elderly. The Republican began airing a TV ad that says Mark Warner's ads are "factually wrong" because "I voted to increase funding for Medicare."
John Warner also challenged Mark Warner to put forward his own plan for saving Medicare.
Mark Warner declined to provide specifics, other than to say he would endorse a plan gathering support in Congress that would slow Medicare spending by $150 billion. "We all know we need to make cuts in Medicare, but I think $270 billion was wrong," he said during a stop Thursday in Roanoke.
Like President Clinton, Mark Warner would prefer to put the onus of a solution on a bipartisan commission that would report to Congress.
Ridge, of the Concord Coalition, noted that a similar approach failed a few years ago.
"They came up with a lot of great ideas, and everyone ignored them, particularly President Clinton," Ridge said. "The political will just wasn't there."
School prayer view explained
Mark Warner drew on an unpleasant memory to explain his opposition to organized prayer in public schools.
Warner, 41, recalled how his Indiana school started each day with a Bible verse until a landmark Supreme Court decision in 1963.
He said the school system then responded by asking parents for permission to excuse students from class once a week to study Christianity in a mobile classroom set up next to the school.
Warner, who was raised Presbyterian, said he forgot to bring his permission slip from home and found himself left behind in a fourth-grade classroom with a Jewish student and another kid.
"It was like, `Did I do something wrong?' The next week I had my parents sign that damn thing, and I was out of there," Warner said, speaking recently to Virginia Tech students.
Warner said he would never support organized prayer in public schools. "I have too many memories of that day," he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. "Our elderly have helped build this country, and theyby CNBwant to cut back in Medicare. I see these people in nursing homes
and what they have to go through, and it's a shame. We always say we
don't have money. Well, the money is going somewhere." - Brenda
Randolph, Roanoke. 2. "I'm worried about looking down the road, how
so much of the money is built in that's not negotiable. It's the
entitlements - everything that is set in the budget, and each year
there's less and less flexibility." - Bob Benoit, Blacksburg. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS