[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 161 (Wednesday, October 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10290-H10291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORE ON MEDICARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, and 
without objection, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Gene Green, is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me answer my colleague's 
concern about the right to choose. Seniors have the best right to 
choose today. They can choose whatever doctor and hospital they want 
to. But under the plan that is going to pass tomorrow they will not 
have that right because they will be priced out of the market.
  The cuts we have talked about. They discussed the cuts. Well, it is a 
cut because, if we have a growing senior population by the year 2002, 
and they are saying, they do not grow as fast with the improvements in 
that plan, then we are going to diminish the ability of seniors to be 
able to have access to health care.
  That is what they cannot explain. Let us get down to the basics 
though. We will vote on a $270 billion slowing of the growth for the 
year 2002 to pay for a $245 billion tax cut. I have heard this for 
months that we paid for that in the spring. We have not paid for 
anything since the spring. There has not been one appropriations bill 
passed here. The one that passed was vetoed by the President. They are 
going to use $245 billion over the next 7 years to balance off the cuts 
in Medicare growth, because there are seniors who are going to grow 
into it.
  My dad is 80 years old. He is the growth in Medicare because he is 
going to need it next year. I hope he needs it in 2002. But they are 
not planning for it because they want to pay for a tax cut now to pay 
for political promises. On Monday I visited a senior citizens center in 
Jacinto City, TX, just outside of Houston. I was presented over 5,000 
petitions that I left here this morning on the House floor from senior 
citizens, working families across my district. This signed their names 
because they are very concerned about the broad and extreme cuts that 
the Republicans are talking about that we are going to vote on 
tomorrow.
  The cuts, $270 billion, in it only fixes Medicare to the year 2006. 
Up until last 

[[Page H 10291]]
week they were saying they wanted to fix it to the next election. Well, 
our next election is long before 2006. They want to cut $270 billion 
when we only need $89 billion to fix it to the same year. Their numbers 
do not add up. That is their problem. They do not add up to the year 
2002 because they are taking $245 billion as a tax cut.

  In the 30 years that we have had Medicare, it was a Democratic 
Congress overcoming Republican opposition to enact Medicare. It has 
been saved eight times in the past 30 years, and hopefully we will save 
it again for the senior citizens, that is, until tomorrow, when we vote 
on the Republican Medicare reform proposal.
  That is a surrender of the commitment that our government made with 
senior citizens in 1965. The majority feels it is so important to 
fulfill their campaign promise of a tax cut that busts our budget. They 
talk about they want a balanced budget. I want one, too, but let us get 
our financial house in order before we worry about $245 billion in tax 
cuts and throwing families back to the Dark Ages where seniors have to 
decide whether they want to pay for rent, utilities, food, or health 
care.
  The worst part of their bill is that, rather than the fact that the 
Medicare is being cut $270 billion, again, it is to pay for that $245 
billion tax cut. That is the outrage that people are saying. That is 
why they wanted to run this through with only one hearing in the House 
and arresting seniors who came over to testify. This plan had a lot 
less than the President's health care plan that most of the other side 
opposed. So I would hope that we would deal with it.
  Tonight there is a vigil out on our Capitol steps by seniors who are 
raising their voice in opposition. I would hope that 30 years from now, 
when we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Medicare, it will be because 
we voted this down tomorrow. If we do not vote it down, then the 
President will veto it, and next year the voters in our country will 
recognize who is really concerned about health care for seniors.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. Brown], from 
Cleveland, who is now the American League champion.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I have had lots of town meetings in 
my district. I hear the anger from senior citizens and from their 
families about the $270 billion in Medicare cuts in order to pay for 
tax breaks for the wealthy and about the Republicans idea to give 
people the right to choose health care plans but take away their right 
to choose a doctor.
  What I am also hearing from senior citizens is they are particularly 
concerned about fraud in Medicare. The inspector general said that as 
much as $200 billion, as much as $200 billion of fraud over the next 7 
years in the Medicare plan. Yet the Republicans bill actually promotes 
fraud, waste, and abuse. The New York Times had an editorial called 
Bribes for Doctors talking about the midnight deal, that the Speaker's 
deal made Medicare substantially worse.
  It is clear that as bad as the fraud is, it does not make sense to 
give tax breaks to the wealthy of $245 billion while you are cutting 
Medicare $270 billion and taking away the ability of government to 
fight fraud and investigate and prosecute fraud.

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