[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                           MEDICARE RHETORIC

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Hoke] is recognized during 
morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, I was appalled this weekend when, having 
thought that perhaps we were going to bring a lowered style of rhetoric 
to the debate on Medicare, in fact, what happened is that the 
administration brought out, along with some of the liberal Democratic 
leaders of the Congress, they trotted out the big lie again for the 
centerpiece of their campaign to save Medicare, or is it the 
centerpiece of their campaign to smear and attack Republicans?
  It seems to me that what has happened here is we have gotten into an 
incredibly demagogic style of rhetoric regarding Medicare, and it is 
just not right. It simply is not fair to senior citizens that we should 
be dealing in a partisan way with what is clearly a policy problem. It 
is a problem for everybody who is 65 or older, or whoever thinks that 
they might be 65 or older, because it is a problem with the fundamental 
question of whether or not we are going to be able to pay for the 
Medicare program based on the way that it is projected to go forward at 
this time.
  It is very clear from this summary, which is a status report; what it 
is is a summary of an annual report that has to be made to the 
President and to Congress as a matter of law.
  Every single year, the trustees of the different trust funds have got 
to make a report, and this is their report, and it is not just the 
Medicare trust fund. It is also the Social Security trust fund and the 
disability insurance trust fund.
  The one that is the most telling and problematic is the Medicare 
trust fund, and it is absolutely the job of every responsible 
legislator in this body to both read this, take it seriously, and do 
something about it.
  This is also not a partisan issue. It is not a partisan document. 
This is a document that was signed by three members of the President's 
Cabinet, Secretaries of Labor, HHS, and Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. 
Rubin, and it was also signed by Shirley Chater, who is the 
Commissioner of Social Security, also another Presidential appointee.
  If it is a partisan document, then it is a Democrat partisan 
document. It is certainly not a Republican partisan document, and it 
says very clearly, in plain language that every American should read, 
the Medicare trust fund is going broke. It is going to be without 
money. It is bankrupt next year. It is without any money in 7 years. It 
is spending more than it takes in next year. It is exhausted in 7 
years.
  That is under not the worst-case scenario, according to the trustees. 
That is under the middle scenario, and it does not take into account 
the real problem that comes forward in about the year 2020 when people 
of my age, baby boomers, become eligible for Social Security and 
Medicare.


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