[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 147 (Wednesday, September 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HEARINGS ON THE FUTURE OF MEDICARE

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, when Medicare was created in 1965, seniors 
came from all over the United States to testify before Congress as to 
how to meet the health care financing needs of our Nation's elderly. As 
we reconsider the future of Medicare for 37 million Americans, our 
seniors, indeed all Americans, deserve the right to a fair and open 
period of public comment on an issue of concern to every family in 
America.
  Yet as the Republicans are about to embark on the most significant 
changes in the Medicare system, in Medicare's history, by proposing a 
$270 billion cut in Medicare, the Republicans are blanking out 
America's voices. How unfortunate that the Republicans intend to hold 
only 1 day of hearings on a proposal that the American people, and 
especially American seniors, have yet to see. This is fundamentally 
unfair.
  Mr. Speaker, a great Republican President hailed our democracy as a 
government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Our 
democracy is not just
 about free elections of representatives, it is about citizen 
participation in a free and open process in the formulation of public 
policy. Given the magnitude of the $270 billion cut, our citizens 
deserve better.

                          ____________________