[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4515]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SAVAGE PLANS FOR MEDICARE

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, the Gingrichites took a poll, and now they 
are scurrying here, there, and everywhere searching for a way to dress 
up their plan to slash Medicare.
  The Gingrichites are understandably scared silly that the American 
public recognizes that what they have in mind is a raid of $305 billion 
from the Medicare trust fund to fund last month's $345 billion tax 
break for the privileged few.
  This week the Gingrichites say, well, Medicare is in such bad 
financial shape that it needs surgery to survive. Well, I ask, ``Why 
didn't they think about that last month when they were standing on this 
floor and they approved a contract tax bill that pulled out $56 billion 
from the Medicare trust fund?''
  That is right, $56 billion from the same fund they now complain is 
going broke, and, having bled the trust fund, now they intend to start 
whacking off the benefits for America's seniors.
  The Gingrichites do not plan to salvage Medicare; they plan to savage 
it, and I think the American people are smart enough to recognize 
savagery when they see it, to know the difference between savagery and 
salvation.


                          ____________________