Indiana Congressman Steve Buyer visited Warsaw Tuesday to make himself available to Hoosiers and discuss his campaign.

"I wanted to make myself available to you because we were supposed to have been done legislatively Oct. 6 in Washington," Buyer said. "We're obviously not."

Buyer said Speaker of the House Dick Gephardt and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle are playing a political game to keep Congress in session and cause a backlash on the Republicans.

"They're doing everything they can to delay, stall the legislation," said Buyer. "They're holding us as long as they can."

Buyer called it "political gamesmanship." Gephardt and Daschle are obstructing the process to make it appear as if the Republicans aren't getting the job done so they will lose credibility. Buyer is hoping Congress will be out of session by Friday or Saturday, which will give him two weeks to campaign against Democratic opponent Greg Goodnight.

"Senator Gephardt and Mr. Daschle have this political strategy to keep us there (in Washington) and game the system so they can be promoted to power," said Buyer. "I don't think it's going to work because of what we've been able to accomplish."

Buyer mentioned such issues as reforming welfare, paying off the national debt, balancing the budget, improving health care, addressing education and working to provide tax relief.

"We've done that," Buyer said. He said by Saturday Congress will make the fourth payment on the national debt and they have a plan to pay it off in 13 years.

Buyer brought up the presidential debates and explained what debates are about. He said $4.5 trillion is what the Congressional Budget Office estimates over 10 years as surplus.

"Of the $4.5 trillion, $2.3 trillion is Social Security," he said. "Now that leaves us with $2.2 trillion. Out of the $2.2 trillion we took $792 billion and dedicated it to tax relief."

This leaves an excess of $1 trillion of surplus, he said.

"That's what the debates are about," Buyer said of the $2.2 trillion. He said his recommendation is for the remaining $1 trillion surplus to be used to modernize Medicare, invest in education and pay off the national debt.

"We want to fully fund special education to free local school corporations to provide flexibility," he said of education.

Another issue Buyer discussed was Al Gore's attempt to leave the Clinton scandals behind.

"I believe at the Democratic convention when Al Gore stood up and told the country, 'I am my own man,' it was Al Gore's attempt to step out from the shadows of the Clinton/Gore scandals," Buyer said. "Then, when he went to the first debate, Al Gore told three stories. And people accepted his stories at face value. And then they found out he made it up."

Buyer said when Gore got caught he implied that he may not get the little things right but he will get the big things right.

"If you'll give a fib on the details," Buyer said, "it would scare me to death what you'd do on the big things."

Buyer also discussed his prescription drug plan.

"What I'm about to talk about I'd say is my second greatest legislative accomplishment," Buyer said. His first was changing the funding formula of the gas tax on the last transportation bill.

The purpose of Buyer's plan is to deliver a prescription drug plan and restore the promise of lifetime health care to America's military retirees, he said. The bill provides a comprehensive, low- cost pharmacy benefit that allows military retirees to choose their drugs from a network, mail order or out-of-network sources.

The bill has been sent to Clinton to be signed into law. [[In-content Ad]]