[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H7181-H7182]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HISTORY OF MEDICARE

  (Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, 30 years ago this month on July 30, 
1965, President Lyndon Johnson in Independence, MO, signed the 
legislation crating Medicare. Earlier that year, 93 percent of House 
Republicans, including then-Congressman Bob Dole from Kansas, opposed 
the creation of Medicare as we know it. Let me repeat that: 93 percent 
of Republican Members of the House of Representatives in 1965 opposed 
the creation of Medicare.
  In the 1970's and the 1980's the far right of the Republican Party 
continued to try to make cuts in Medicare and dismantle that program. 
Today, in 1995, the mainstream part of the Republican Party, Republican 
leadership, again wants to dismantle Medicare and end the program as we 
know it.
  They were wrong in 1965 when 93 percent of Republicans opposed 
Medicare. They were wrong in the 1970's and 1980's when the far right 
wing of the Republican Party wanted to cut Medicare, and they are wrong 
today to give tax breaks to the wealthy to the tune 

[[Page H 7182]]
of $300 billion and cut Medicare $270 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, it is simply not right.
  

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