[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 110 (Monday, July 10, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1399]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    CONFERENCE REPORT ON HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 67, CONCURRENT 
            RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET, FISCAL YEARS 1996-2002

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                               speech of

                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 29, 1995
  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, this Republican budget risks the security 
and effectiveness of the Medicare and Medicaid programs for the 
millions of Americans who depend upon them.
  Are my Republican colleagues honest enough to tell us their plan to 
make these massive cuts in these programs? Of course not--because they 
do not want the American people to understand what they are doing to 
Medicare and Medicaid.
  They do not want people to understand the implications for inner city 
and rural hospitals, for teaching hospitals and children's hospitals, 
for our medical research institutions. They do not want them to 
understand what it means for the quality of care in nursing homes. And 
most of all, they do not want our seniors to understand what this does 
to their Social Security checks.
  What we do know is that these cuts are not driven by a desire to 
improve the Medicare program. They are driven pure and simple by 
deficit reduction and tax cut politics.
  Medicare spending is slashed by $280 billion. Taxes are cut by $245 
billion. Would we be slashing Medicare this way if we were not giving 
so much of this tax cut to the wealthy? Of course not.
  So at the same time this tax cut is putting money in the pockets of a 
lot of people who do not need it, the Republican Medicare budget is 
taking money out of the pockets of a lot of Medicare beneficiaries who 
are already struggling to make ends meet.
  Let us remember who the typical Medicare beneficiary is. This mother, 
father, grandparent--elderly or disabled--lives on a limited income. In 
fact, more than three-quarters of Medicare beneficiaries have incomes 
of less than $25,000. Virtually a third have nothing but Social 
Security for almost all of their income.
  And the 4\1/2\ million seniors who cannot even afford to pay their 
Medicare premium without help from Medicaid lose that protection in 
this Republican budget at the same time their premiums, deductibles, 
and coinsurance soar.
  This Republican budget reaches into the pockets of our senior 
citizens, no matter how modest their income, and ask them to pay more 
for less.
  It takes away the assurance of help with nursing home bills that 
American families depend on when their parents age.
  It adds millions of poor children to the rolls of the uninsured.
  That is wrong. That is irresponsible. That is an overwhelming reason 
to defeat this Republican budget.


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