[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 159 (Friday, October 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10051-H10052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    GET ON WITH AMERICA'S PRIORITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I must say that it has been a very rough 
week for those of us who believe that this is the people's House, and, 
indeed, the people should be able to come here and ask questions. We 
found we have not even been allowed to ask questions or even see the 
Medicare reform. We are told trust us, you are in the hands of your 
mother. Oh, really? Well, mother is turning into a terror, it seems, as 
we see what some of these changes are.
  This was a very hard week for me, Mr. Speaker, as I watched these 
people being handcuffed just for coming to ask questions. I have never 
seen that happen before. This person does not look like a physical 
threat to anyone, to me, people in wheelchairs, everyone else, and we 
are supposed to be grateful because they were not put in jail, they 
were just taken down and booked and then they let them all go.
  Today I see in the paper even more of a shock, and I am sure these 
people will be even more angry, because today's headlines say 
``Gingrich places low priority on Medicare crooks.'' Well, now, that 
makes us feel real good, does it not? It goes on to say that in the 
area of self-referrals and kickbacks, they have taken all of that out 
because the doctors did not want it, and that the Congressional Budget 
Office, remember the Director of the Congressional Budget Office is 
appointed by the Speaker in his leadership, so part of their team, the 
Congressional Budget Office estimates that this is going to cost you 
$1.1 billion. 

[[Page H 10052]]


  My guess, Mr. Speaker, is that is very low. But at a time we are 
trying to ask people, or they are asking people to put in more and to 
trust them and that these are not really cuts, and we have heard it 
all, in the interim their very own office says they are winking at 
waste, fraud, and abuse. It will come back in even a bigger form. 
Rather than trying to take out what we know is in there, they are 
winking and letting it come back in. I find that really very, very 
surprising. I think most Americans would find that surprising.
  I am sure to people at home it sounds like we are a bunch of 5-year-
olds in a fight out on a playground, but this is a very important 
fight. It is a fight about the future of Medicare and Medicaid and what 
it is going to look like for future generations.
  You have a trustees report that says we need to save about $90 to 
$100 billion. We have put out a plan that would do that, that the 
trustees say would get us there, and that is very important. You see 
the other side waiving the trustees report, but then they come up with 
$270 billion. They do not take it to the trustees to say is this the 
right way to go, they do not have hearings where the trustees come, and 
day after day we see a constant trickle of more shocking news about 
what is in their reform program. I do not know how you can call putting 
a low priority on Medicare crooks reform. That does not sound like 
reform at all. That sounds very retro.
  Mr. Speaker, I think that is why some of us on this side get very 
impatient and our voices go up and maybe we get too shrill about this, 
but these types of issues are very serious. People are entitled to 
hearings. The people who came here and got arrested, I think that is 
one of the largest affronts to American citizens I have ever seen, and 
I wish the leadership would apologize to them and say that they are 
welcome here and this is the people's House and they can come ask these 
questions.
  We on our side of the aisle, we want to ask some questions, too. 
Since when is a low priority on Medicare crooks the priority of this 
House? It certainly is not on this side of the aisle. We do not approve 
of Medicare crooks, we do not approve of defense fraud, we do not 
approve of fraud wherever it is. Money is money and people should be 
treated with dignity. But to see this type of thing constantly 
trickling out in the press without the openness and without the 
discussion that we need, I think is very tragic, and that is why people 
get cynical about government, and that is why I think people are really 
beginning to wonder and wake up. What is going on on Medicare and 
Medicaid?
  I am also concerned, Mr. Speaker, that we have done away with what we 
called spousal impoverishment, but you may as well call take-your-
house-away bill, because a couple, if one gets sick, is going to have 
to put all their assets on the line to take care of that one person 
before they will qualify for Medicaid.
  Boy, that is not a family value as far as I am concerned. In 1988, 
this Congress said no to that type of thing. We said that the family's 
assets should be split and we should not do that. I hope people find 
out Medicare fraud is not my priority. Putting families in the poor 
house is not my priority, and I hope we get on to America's priorities.

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