[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   PROTECTING AND PRESERVING MEDICARE

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, last spring when the President's Medicare 
Trustees Board released their report on the impending bankruptcy of the 
Medicare system, there was and still is stone-cold silence on the other 
side of the aisle. No ideas, only criticism. In fact, even their 
buddies in the elite liberal media noticed the startling conclusions 
reached by the Medicare trustees. They concluded that unless we take 
serious steps right now to save Medicare, it will go bankrupt in 7 
years.
  Republicans have not dodged this issue. We have already started to 
take serious action to protect and preserve Medicare, not only for 
today's seniors, but for future generations. We will not allow Medicare 
to become a bargaining chip in the same old Washington shell game.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not about pitting one generation against another 
or one party against another. It is about generational equity. We must 
start now to protect Medicare. The consequences for doing nothing and 
just criticizing are too expensive to ignore.

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