U.S. Sen. Larry Craig Responds to SeniorJournal.com Opinion Critical of Republican Record on Senior Citizen Issues

Defending the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and the Republican Commitment to America's Seniors

By U.S. Senator Larry Craig,

Chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

As I read the recent editorial written by Tucker Sutherland titled, "Opinion: Placing Special Interest Above Senior Consumers -- Senate Aging Committee Continues Republican Assault on Senior Citizens' Rights," I was reminded of something a reporter for the Associated Press was quoted as saying in the mid-1990's.  She said that reporters get the news right about 72.3% of the time.  It appears that the same percentage is true for some editorials, and I appreciate the opportunity provided by the Senior Journal to set the record straight.

In my capacity as Chairman of the Special Committee on Aging and immediate past chairman of the U.S. Senate's Republican Policy Committee, I am or have been:

 > A current co-sponsor of the Elder Justice Act - designed to protect seniors from abuse from wherever it occurs

> The author of the Family Caregiver legislation

> The leader of the “Attacking Senior Fraud Initiative” in the Senate

>  An original co-sponsor of the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act

>  A promoter of the Social Security Protection Act – Signed into law in December

> The sponsor of the Long-Term Care Partnership Program Act of 2004

> The sponsor of the Senior Eldercare Relief and Empowerment (SECURE) Act – a bill to provide tax relief for those who pay for care for older loved ones

> The sponsor of the “Simple Tax for Seniors Act” – which will enable seniors to fill out an easier, shorter tax form similar to the 1040EZ.

> And I now am currently awaiting a GAO report on abusive guardianships of the elderly - a report I requested and which will be released just next week.

With those bone fides, I think it is clear that neither I nor my fellow committee members - both Democrats and Republicans - are interested in "assaulting" America's seniors.  Indeed, we are all committed to protecting older Americans. 

As for the hearing the Senior Journal attacked ("Medical Liability in Long-Term Care: Is Escalating Litigation a Threat to Quality and Access?"), it hasn't yet taken place - so the preemptive rebuke on the hearing came as an unpleasant surprise.   

The purpose of the hearing is to protect America’s seniors. What is happening now is that many doctors are leaving nursing homes because their insurance premiums are skyrocketing.  Congress needs to understand why that is and what we can do to ensure that seniors are protected by having access to a doctor. 

Let me be clear – those people who abuse, or neglect, or intentionally cause harm to seniors must be held accountable and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Period. 

Thursday's hearing will include representatives who share that opinion and who share the Senior Journal’s concern about tort reform.  One of the witnesses will be Marshall Kapp, a distinguished law professor who has written extensively on the effects of litigation on the provision of quality of care. His articles indicate that lawsuits have an appropriate place in the process of ensuring quality care, within reason. Dr. David Stevenson from Harvard has written that traditional remedies in tort reform may not work in long-term care.  I look forward to hearing both their testimonies at tomorrow's hearing.

As for the Senior Journal's attack overall on Republicans, I think it is worth noting that under President Bush and the Republican led Congress, funding for senior citizens programs have increased by hundreds of billions of dollars. 

> The new Medicare prescription drug benefit, which is in its infancy today, and which will begin full force in 2006, increases spending on America's Medicare program by over $400 billion over ten years.  That increase is the largest expansion of federal benefits for America's seniors in nearly forty years.

> The new drug benefit begins with $1,200 for each low-income senior to help them purchase their prescription medications during the next eighteen months.

> When the full drug benefit begins in 2006, approximately one-third of America’s Medicare beneficiaries will qualify for income-based assistance for prescription medications under the new Medicare program.  Those who qualify will have vastly discounted or nonexistent premiums and deductibles, and millions of American seniors will pay just $1 to $3 per prescription.

> Under President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress, funding for other senior programs, such as home delivered meals, has increased $140,000,000 ($140 million) since 2001.

> Under President Bush and the Republican leadership in Congress, funding for other senior programs, such as home delivered meals, has increased $140,000,000 ($140 million) since 2001.