The ad: A 30-second TV spot for the congressional campaign of Roxanne Qualls, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Ohio's 1st Congressional District.
The Qualls ad begins with footage from a recent TV ad from her Republican opponent, Steve Chabot. The ad criticized Ms. Qualls as being in favor of "high taxes" and "wasteful spending." It dissolves to Ms. Qualls, looking at the camera, and saying that "important issues shouldn't be distorted by a negative campaign." "While I support preserving the budget surplus until Social Security is saved, Steve Chabot just voted for an $80 billion raid on Social Security," Ms. Qualls said.
The Democratic candidate says that "Steve Chabot voted to make every senior pay over $1,200 more in Medicare premiums." "The issues this year are too important for partisan shell games and election-year giveaways," Ms. Qualls said, as the spot ends.
The perspective: The "$80 billion raid on Social Security" Ms. Qualls talks about was a reference to a bill that passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House last month with Mr. Chabot's support.
The bill -- which passed the House with 210 Republican votes and 19 Democratic votes -- would use 10 percent of the expected federal budget surplus over the next five years for tax cuts, including easing the "marriage penalty" for joint filers and reducing inheritance taxes.
Under the GOP plan, the other 90 percent -- nearly $1.4 trillion, according to congressional budget estimates -- would be set aside to shore up the Social Security system.
Democrats such as Ms. Qualls have been campaigning on a pledge to hold back all the budget-surplus money until Congress comes up with a plan to guarantee Social Security's solvency.
But Republicans argue that the $1.4 trillion is more than enough to ensure the system's solvency. Some House Republicans, such as House Budget chairman John Kasich, have argued that Congress could give 50 percent of the money back in tax cuts and still protect Social Security.
The $80 billion tax cut is probably moot. Senate Republican leaders have indicated there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass the measure, at least in this session of Congress.
Ms. Qualls' statement that Mr. Chabot "voted to make every senior citizen pay over $1,200 more in Medicare premiums" does not explain that the increases are over a seven-year period, from 1996 through 2002.
In 1995, the federal Medicare advisory board, which includes three members of President Clinton's cabinet, warned that the Medicare system would go bankrupt by the year 2001 unless action was taken.
The legislation the Qualls ad refers to was House Resolution 2491, which was passed by the House in November 1995, with Mr. Chabot's support.
H.R. 2491 kept the percentage of costs of Medicare Part B coverage (which covers doctors' bills, out-patient care and some therapy services) paid by seniors in premiums at the same level -- 31.5 percent. Some costs of Part A coverage (in-patient hospital care and nursing care) were shifted into the Part B program.
Republicans argue that they did not raise Medicare premiums because they did not raise the percentage of health-care costs picked up by Medicare patients.
Health-care costs continue to rise, the Republicans argue, and the fact that premiums increase every year reflects the increased cost of health care. Without higher premiums, the Republicans argued, the Medicare advisory board's prediction of Medicare bankruptcy by 2001 would come true.
