[applause] thank you very much. Im glad you liked the president. I like him too. [laughter] mr. President , mrs. Johnson distinguished guests, you have done me a great honor and coming here today and made me a very happy man. This is an important hour for the nation. For those of our citizens who have completed their to her of duty tour of duty and moved to the sidelines these people are our responsibility and are entitled among other benefits to the best medical protections available. Not one of our citizens should be abandoned we dont want these people to have anything to do with charity or have them have an idea of hopeless despair. Mr. President , i am glad to have lived this long. [applause] at the signing of the medicare bill, it puts this nation right where needs to be. Your inspired leadership and responsiveness forwardlooking congress, have made it possible for the state to come about. I thank you for coming here. It is an honor that i have not had for quite a while. I will sa
Finally, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce our first moderator, the great Bob Schieffer. As all of you know, bob is the cbs news chief washington correspondent and the awardwinning host of face the nation. Bob made some news of his own earlier this month when he announced he was stepping down from face the nation. Im hoping we will all help change his mind before lunch today. Bob has been a reporter for more than half a century and is has virtually won every award in broadcast journalism during his august career. Including 8 emmy awards. Please give me a big round of applause for Bob Schieffer and our panelists. [applause] bob i want to tell you, i announced last week that i was going to retire after 46 years at cbs news. 58 years since i got my first job in journalism. I think for that reason alone i an appropriate moderator to talk am about how medicare got started. Next week, i am going down and signing up for part b. [laughter] bob i would also say this. You know when i annou
We thought it would be important to look at the complicated early history of medicare and how difficult it was for previous administrations to enact legislation that so many of us now take for granted. Besides myself, our first panelist includes lynda bird johnson robb, the eldest daughter of president and mrs. Johnson. Lynda is the former chairman of the board for reading is fundamental, the nations largest to childrens literary organization. And she serves on the board of the lbj foundation. She is also the former first lady of virginia and another proud alumnus of the university of texas in austin. , i might mention too her husband, former senator and former governor chuck robb is here. Linda will be joined by larry levinson, deputies special counsel to larry johnson. Larry helped shape a comprehensive domestic legislative agenda which included medicare, the safe streets act, and Landmark Education and civil rights measures. He is a harvard law graduate and lawyer in private practic
About wilbur mills. Mills told me that by the end of this week, he thought he would have something in shape to come down and discuss with you that he could present in the way of a packet that could be of interest. I told him i had read some articles lately that were a little bit disturbing that indicated something that was happening on the medicare and, indeed that, well, you know better than to the attention to those stories, and i said, i agree with you, wilbur. I just wanted to be reassured and he said, you know you cannot Read Everything you want, and this bill ultimately it has to have the mills stamp on it, and i said well, the president s view is that whenever you want to talk to him, that door is just wide open. He is happy to see you, and he said you just tell him again, as i told you lately last week that just as soon as i am ready to sit down and be able to present think to him that i could spell out that would make some sense and that would represent what would be of intere
George h. W. Bush. And he was the only republican. He was the only republican. Who came that day. And i always thought it spoke so well of both of them. It did. It spoke well of both of them. Folks, we have to stay on the clock. One thing i learned in television, i know how to get off on time. Thank you very much. You have a great day coming up here. [ applause ]. On our next washington journal, Gretchen Morgenson joins us. Looking at some of the shortcomings of the home loan modification program, which was set up to help homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments. Then Susan Carlson of the Minnesota Organization on fetal alcohol syndrome about a new study examining drinking and drug use among pregnant teenagers. A after that, john jackson of Conservation Force talks about endangered species and big game hunting. Plus, your phone calls, facebook, comments and tweets. Washington journal is live each morning at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. This sunday night on q a. Institute n