[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 78 (Thursday, May 11, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE WRONG WAY TO GO WITH SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans are solving 
something that has bothered all the people, but I do not think they are 
doing it the right way. Older people have complained to me; I am not 
talking about the wealthy older people who will be the beneficiaries of 
the Republican tax cuts but the average older person for whom Social 
Security is a major part of their income. And they have complained 
that, as the Social Security cost of living has gone up, Medicare has 
come and taken it away. And they have been virtually equal in many 
cases.
  Well, no longer under the Republican budget plan will the cost-of-
living increase that older people get be equal to the increase they 
have to pay in Medicare. But the Republicans are solving this in the 
wrong way.
  Older people are going to have to pay more for their Medicare, and 
under the Republican plan they will get less for their Social Security. 
So every year older people will see under the plan an erosion in their 
incomes because the Republicans will reduce the cost of living.
  They want to cut taxes for wealthy older people who will be making 
$150,000 or $200,000 a year, but they will cut the cost of living for 
an older person living on $9,000 or $10,000. That is the wrong way to 
go.


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