[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 98 (Thursday, June 15, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H5987]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         CLARIFYING THE PICTURE

  (Mr. HOKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, I will tell the previous speaker what is wrong 
with that picture. What is wrong with it is it appeals to the worst in 
the American people. It appeals to a call to class warfare. It appeals 
to a petty and vituperative kind of conduct, and it absolutely confuses 
the American people.
  Because the fact is that it is the middle class that has been paying 
for decades. The middle class will continue to pay unless we create 
genuine tax relief, which is exactly what we have been working on on 
this side of the aisle. But that is what is wrong with the picture.
  I was surprised to hear a member of the Democratic leadership 
yesterday say that he is upset with the President's budget because he 
does not think that Medicare should be talked about or touched in order 
to balance the budget. The reason I was surprised is because the fact 
is that even if we run a budget surplus in the year 2002, Medicare is 
going to be bankrupt. Medicare is a separate program. You cannot spend 
money that is outside the trust fund. You cannot take money from the 
general fund.
  You have got to put your head in the sand if you will not do 
something about Medicare.

                          ____________________