[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1300
 
EXPANDED WELFARE ENTITLEMENTS WOULD LEAD TO MASSIVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING

  (Mr. ISTOOK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ISTOOK. Mr. Speaker, the frontal assault has been abandoned, but 
the health care debate is not over. Watch out for a sneak attack. Using 
misleading labels, some in Congress are trying to push us into another 
welfare entitlements trap.
  The biggest deception is the innocent-sounding suggestion that we 
develop new Federal subsidies to help low-income families to buy health 
insurance. But the phrase ``low-income subsidies'' is a code phrase for 
expanding our already-troubled welfare system. ``Low-income'' is being 
broadly defined to include 63 million or more Americans, even some who 
already earn up to $36,000 a year.
  This is a huge expansion of welfare entitlements. Estimates show 
these plans would require $80 billion to over $130 billion a year in 
new Government spending.
  This would cost taxpayers more than the 1993 Clinton tax hike, which 
was the largest in American history.
  Government already pays for over 40 percent of the health care in 
America. Is that not enough? My view is straightforward: Any plan that 
expands Government spending, or expands the number of people dependent 
on Government, does not deserve to be called ``reform.'' And it does 
not deserve to pass.

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