[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 85 (Monday, May 22, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5370]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MEDICARE BUDGET CUTS

  (Mr. FORD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FORD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because I am receiving a number 
of letters from my constituents back home in addressing the budget cuts 
in the Medicare budget, cuts as being proposed by the new Republican 
majority in this Congress. As I read through all of the letters that my 
constituents are sending to me, they do not feel that it is fair in 
America for the elderly to add on an additional $1,000 in costs and 
additional premiums for Medicare.
  It is true that we must do something about the huge deficits that we 
are faced with, but we know that we ought to share that responsibility 
among all Americans. For the Republicans to think that children and the 
elderly population of this Nation should bear that brunt, it is wrong.
  Just to share a few things with you that I am receiving in the mail, 
senior citizens are saying the need to fix Social Security and Medicare 
can no longer be denied. They acknowledge the fact that we can no 
longer deny it. They say it can be done. And we as Republicans and 
Democrats in this House can work together in a bipartisan spirit to do 
so.
  I do not think that we ought to say to the wealthy and the rich of 
this Nation, yes, just for your $350 billion tax cut, we are going to 
increase and cut the Medicare Program in a fashion that will cause 
burden and undue harm to the elderly population of this country.


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