[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 138 (Thursday, September 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8602]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                THE CRUEL HOAX OF MEDICARE'S INSOLVENCY

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise simply to correct this terrible hoax 
that the Republicans are playing on the American people, that somehow 
the Medicare Program is bankrupt or insolvent.
  In fact, the trustee's report that came out this year showed 
dramatically that Medicare has never had more money available and, in 
fact, the life of the program is at least 7 years beyond this year. 
That is a longer period of time before Medicare goes insolvent than any 
other period of time that the trustees have reported on in the last few 
years.
  The fact of the matter is that we cannot keep this Medicare Program 
with a huge pot of money, because if we did that, providers and others 
would want to raid the program to take advantage of that pot of money. 
Congress has historically kept the amount of money simply for a few 
years going in order to protect the program, and it is a cruel hoax on 
the American people to suggest that Medicare is going insolvent.
  What the Republicans are doing is raiding the Medicare trust fund in 
order to finance a tax cut. It is that simply. They do not want to tell 
the truth about what is happening here. It is a huge tax cut for the 
richest Americans.


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