[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 153 (Thursday, September 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H9594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             MEDICARE, THE GOP'S WELL-MEANING RESCUE SQUAD

  (Mr. GUTKNECHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, that is a tough act to follow.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to read this morning from an editorial 
which appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Anyone who is from the 
Upper Midwest would never say that the Minneapolis Star Tribune is a 
Republican propaganda organ. But I would like to read what they had to 
say last Sunday in an editorial entitled ``Medicare, the GOP's Well-
Meaning Rescue Squad.''

       Supporting the elderly already swallows up one-third of the 
     Federal budget. Unless shifts are made soon, baby boomers 
     will face a grim and threadbare old age.
       There's no mystery to all this, of course. President 
     Clinton knows that Medicare is going under, and so do the 
     Democrats in Congress. You'd think the witness to such a 
     calamity might be moved to join the rescue team--or at least 
     yell helpful comments. No such luck. Uninclined to get their 
     feet wet, the Democrats seem content to play on the 
     vulnerability of the 37 million Americans holding on to the 
     Medicare lifeline. Their chief contribution to the discussion 
     is the accusation that Republicans are trying to ``wreck 
     Medicare.''
       Surely the Democrats have more to contribute than potshots 
     like that.
       The looming dangers for Medicare should revive the reform 
     effort and spur earnest attempts at compromise. Instead of 
     sniping from the safety of the shore, the Democrats should 
     wade in and help with the rescue.

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