Reid says Bush administration’s ‘incompetence’ will aid Democrats
“This is an administration that is going to be noted for its incompetence not its accomplishments,” Reid, D-Nev., said after a forum on Medicare reforms at the University of Nevada’s School of Medicine.
Reid said polls show Democrats winning Republican-held seats in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Montana, Missouri and Rhode Island.
“And we have good shots in Arizona and Tennessee,” he said, referring to this year’s race for the seat currently held by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. “If elections were held today, we’d pick up five seats. The Senate would be 50-50. “
Reid told about 100 faculty members, students and community leaders that the administration’s prescription drug program for Medicare is intended to do away with Medicare altogether.
“It’s aim is to give HMOs and other health care plans out there the advantage,” he said.
The administration has caused the number of uninsured Americans to increase by more than 1 million a year under its watch, Reid said.
“The poor are getting poorer, the rich getting richer, the middle class is being squeezed. And this deals not only with health care, but with everything,” Reid told The Associated Press.
It includes “the dismal state of what is going on with the incompetence of this administration as it relates to the war, as it relates to (hurricane) Katrina, as it relates to the Medicare fiasco, as it relates to the port security problem evident today.”
“The American people are now not looking at these issues one by one. They are just looking at generally an incompetent administration,” he said.
Brian Nick, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington, said there are no polls that show a Democrat leading in Rhode Island’s Senate race and predicted Republicans would retain control of the Senate.
“As usual, Senator Reid’s logic is severely flawed,” Nick said.
“Senator Reid has done his best to turn his taxpayer funded office into a political `war room’ to attack Republicans, but his efforts will have been in vain because he will still be minority leader this time next year,” he said.
Reid said President Bush’s budget priorities are “scary.”
“We’re spending in Iraq $2 billion a week yet we’re cutting these programs that mean so much to so many people,” he said.
“President Bush’s budget calls for more than $35 billion in cuts in Medicare over five years and more than $17 billion in cuts in Medicaid. This is the poorest of the poor,” he said.
“The president’s answer is health savings accounts. But you have to have money to have savings. It only helps those who have money and don’t need the help as much as others.”
Reid said the latest developments in Iraq are of grave concern.
“We have to be very, very cautious or Iraq could end up in a civil war. Some say it already is a low-grade civil war,” he said.
“We have to have a political solution to what is going on in Iraq. It can’t only be military. And the only way to get a political solution is the Iraqi people decide to join together and form a government and rule. If they don’t form a new government, I don’t know how much longer we can continue.
“To be successful, there must be military victory, political victory and there must be reconstruction. … and none of those three are going very well. I’m less encouraged today than I was three months ago.”
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is among those who back the new Medicare Prescription Drug benefit and has hosted several events at senior centers around the state with Medicare experts to inform seniors about the program.
“There are many options for seniors under the new program to ensure they find a benefit that meets their individual health needs, as opposed to a one-size-fits-all policy,” said Amy Maier, Gibbons’ chief of staff.
Gibbons is confident that as seniors gain more information about the new program “they will begin to enjoy great savings and the peace of mind that comes from not having to choose between paying rent and affording lifesaving medication,” she said.