[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 27, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEMOCRATS ON MEDICARE: POLITICS AS USUAL

  (Mr. HOKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, it is true that politics does make strange 
bedfellows, and we find ourselves once more lying down with the 
Washington Post, not normally friend to Republicans. But the fact is 
that they set up an editorial 2 days ago with respect to the 
``Medigoguing,'' as they call it, of the Democrat leadership and 
Democratic Members of Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, talking about the letter of minority leader Dick 
Gephardt, they say:

       The letter itself seems to tell us more of the same. It 
     tells you just about everything the Democrats think about 
     Medicare, except how to cut the cost. Medicare and Medicaid 
     together are now a sixth of the budget and a fourth of all 
     spending for other than interest and defense.
       If nothing is done, those shares are going to rise, 
     particularly as the baby boomers begin to retire early in the 
     next century. Republicans have nonetheless stepped up to the 
     issue. They have taken a huge political risk just in calling 
     for the cuts that they have.
       What the Democrats have done, in turn, is confirm the risk. 
     The Republicans are going to take away your Medicare, they 
     say. That is their only message. They have no plan. The 
     Democrats have fabricated the Medicare tax cut connection 
     because it is useful politically. We think it is wrong.

  Mr. Speaker, we agree.

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