[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10122-H10123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




AMERICANS SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO THE REPUBLICAN MEDICARE REFORM AGENDA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Durbin] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, there are many items and subjects debated on 
the floor of the House, as the previous speaker indicated, from the 
O.J. Simpson trial to some items that are considered to be very 
parochial, very regional, very specific.
  But there will be a debate on the floor of the House this week which 
I am afraid has not caught the attention of the American people. The 
reason I have this fear is because of the gravity and importance of 
this debate, not only to tens of millions of senior citizens across 
America, but to all of their families as well.
  You can measure the importance of an item in the U.S. House of 
Representatives by the time we dedicate to that item, in most cases, 
but not when it comes to this Gingrich Medicare reform. Take a look at 
this chart as an indication of the time that we have spent in committee 
hearing on the Medicare reform plan of Newt Gingrich.
  Well, we spent 10 days looking into Ruby Ridge. We spent 10 days 
looking into Waco. We have spent 28 days of committee hearings on 
Whitewater. And how many days have we spent on a $270 billion cut in 
Medicare? Look closely. One. One day.
  The fact of the matter is that even as of this weekend, we are just 
learning what is included in this bill; a bill which will literally 
affect every family in America.

[[Page H 10123]]

  My mother is 86 years old. She lives by herself. She has had some 
medical problems. Thank goodness for Medicare. It's been there when she 
needed it, and that story is told over and over again. She is happy, 
but equally important, her family is happy.
  As her son, and my brothers, we are all very content that she is 
under Medicare and has quality health care available to her and a 
quality of life, which was not around 30 years ago.
  So, the Republicans come to the floor and say, We are just trying to 
preserve Medicare. Well, excuse me if I am skeptical. Medicare was 
created by the Democrats. A person like Bob Dole voted against the 
Medicare plan when it was originally proposed, and many Republicans did 
as well.
  This plan for Medicare has been in place for 30 years, a creation of 
the Democrats, has worked and worked well. We fear, many of us on the 
Democratic side of the aisle, that the Gingrich Medicare reform plan is 
a disaster.
  Mr. Speaker, I think the Republicans know it as well. They will not 
bring it out in the light of day. They will not let us see the details 
of it. They will not let us have committee hearings. They will not even 
let us offer but one amendment, one substitute. They are talking about 
maybe 2 hours of debate on the floor of the House for something that 
could literally affect American families for decades to come.
  Let me tell my colleagues several of the things they should know 
about it. The Republicans want to cut $270 billion out of Medicare 
spending. They say that is to save Medicare. That is not what the 
trustees say.
  The trustees say we need to reduce spending by $90 billion, one-third 
of the amount. Why did they triple the cuts to increase premiums for 
seniors, to reduce the services available? They need the money for 
other purposes, and the purposes are very clear. They want to create a 
tax-break package. A package which, frankly, goes way beyond what 
working families need.
  It is a tax-break package primarily for the wealthiest people in this 
country: $245 billion dollars. Nothing new. This is the old Republican 
philosophy. The big business philosophy. The trickle-down philosophy. 
If you give enough money to the wealthiest people in this country, the 
Republicans believe that somehow it will eventually get down to working 
families.
  Well, I applaud them for their consistency, even though they have 
been proven wrong historically and economically. But here they go 
again. To find the money for it, they want to cut Medicare.
  The other thing that troubles me greatly is if you talk to people who 
receive Medicare payments, the providers, you will find that by and 
large they are honest and ethical people who are working hard to 
provide good quality health care, and God bless them for their hard 
work.
  But they will also acknowledge that there are a lot of wrongdoers as 
well. One to two percent of the people who turn in bills to Medicare 
are frankly trying to rip-off the Government through fraud and waste 
and abuse. We know it and we know it costs us dearly.

  We estimate 10 percent of all Medicare billing each year is 
fraudulent; $18 billion lost that should be spent to help people and 
reduce our deficit. We have had some tough laws on the books. They 
should get tougher. But know what? The Gingrich Republican approach on 
Medicare reform lightens the load; makes it harder to prove fraud on 
the part of those who would try to rip-off the system.
  They say it is a sweetheart deal which the Speaker cut with some of 
the interest groups. I do not know if it is or not, but the bottom line 
is the Federal prosecutors who have looked at the Republican Medicare 
reform plan have come to the conclusion that it is going to make it 
tougher to go after the wrongdoers. That is not fair and it is not fair 
to the seniors and it is not fair to the taxpayers.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope the people of the United States will tune into 
this debate this week. The Republicans have tried to keep it under 
wraps. Now it is time to bring it out into the light of day and make 
sure America knows what is in store for them if these Gingrich Medicare 
reform plans go through.

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