Dole "No" To US Medicare Commission

Recently-defeated US Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole has said that he would not accept a Clinton request to head a bipartisan commission on Medicare, were it to be offered. Mr Dole said that after the President's "distortion of the facts and scare tactics" on Medicare during the campaign, he would not feel right about "trying to bail (the President) out."

Moreover, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott told the US Sunday morning television talk show Meet The Press that the President was irresponsible in dealing with Medicare, and had both misled and misinformed the people.

Before Republicans can work with him on this issue, Pres Clinton will have to admit there is a problem that is more serious than he had previously acknowledged, he noted. "He needs to admit that the Republicans were not so far off-base," he said, "and in fact that we're probably right."