[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 82 (Wednesday, May 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        REPUBLICANS AND MEDICARE

  (Mr. DURBIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, to say that the Republicans are saving 
Medicare is like saying Colonel Sanders is saving the lives of 
chickens. Republicans are cutting Medicare with their budget today. 
They are lowering the amount of money available. They know there will 
not be enough as the population grows of seniors needing Medicare and 
health care costs go up.
  So as they talk about more money for Medicare, sure, they are tossing 
a 25-foot rope to someone 30-feet offshore drowning. They say that is 
compassion.
  So why are the Republicans cutting Medicare and Social Security in 
their budget? It is simple. To give tax breaks to wealthy Americans. It 
is a tax break plan that even 100 Republicans wrote their leadership 
and said, please do not do this; it is unfair. But Speaker Gingrich 
pushed it through, and now with this ironclad discipline, the 
Republicans will be voting for it today.
  I hope America tunes into this debate. What is at stake is not only 
health care for seniors and their out-of-pocket costs, but for a lot of 
working families with senior parents and grandparents this debate gets 
right to your pocketbook.

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