[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 121 (Tuesday, July 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    SENIORS WILL FIGHT FOR MEDICARE

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, well, another day has passed without our 
Republican colleagues disclosing even a single detail of how they are 
going to hike health care costs for American seniors. What they have 
disclosed in a cynical memo are the details of how they are going to 
try to convince seniors that they are not in fact being had.
  Yes, Speaker Gingrich has turned to the same public relations firm 
that generated that all-time great campaign gimmick, the contract on 
Americans. And now they have produced an interesting document called, 
everything you ever wanted to know, not about saving Medicare, but 
about communicating Medicare.
  And what does it tell us? It says: Do not talk about improving 
Medicare, Republican colleagues. We cannot afford to raise 
expectations.
  Well, that is revealing. Then it goes on to say: Keep in mind that 
seniors are very pack oriented and very susceptible to being led.
  When it comes to older Americans, I respect their intelligence as 
well as their pocketbook, and they are not going to be led in a pack 
off a cliff by a bunch of Republicans. They are going to fight for 
Medicare.

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