[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 146 (Tuesday, September 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9143]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MEDICARE: BULLDOZING, NOT LEGISLATING

  (Mr. FAZIO of California asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Speaker, as we heard this morning, 
Republicans are calling on us to consider changing Medicare and 
Medicaid, and yet they really do not want a debate or they would 
schedule hearings to consider these very fundamental issues. One day of 
hearings on Medicare, none in the Committee on Commerce, on Medicaid. I 
had to go to the Webster's Dictionary to find a term that seems to fit 
the circumstance. ``Audacity: bold or arrogant disregard of normal 
restraints.'' Maybe the better term would be gall, gall that creates 
rancor and bitterness; boldness coupled with impudent assurance and 
insolence.
  The American people, 37 million of them on Medicare, ought to be 
reacting with rancor because they are not being allowed to participate 
in this very fundamental debate about how a program that is essential 
to this country and to all of our senior citizens will be adjusted.
  Certainly it is appropriate to have it on our agenda. But are we just 
going to take bills introduced today on Medicaid and pass them in a 
week? That is not legislating, that is bulldozing.

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