[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 161 (Wednesday, October 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2230
          SENTIMENT AGAINST REPUBLICAN MEDICARE PLAN RUNS HIGH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, if we want to deal with the war of the 
newspaper clippings, let me read a few headlines: ``House GOP Medicare 
Bill Wins Over Doctors with Hidden Enticements, Promise of Profits,'' 
``Keep Nursing Homes Standard,'' ``GOP Medicare Bill Seems to Favor 
Fraud.''
  Washington Times, not a liberal newspaper in this town: ``Ride for 
Doctors,'' ``Beneath the Surface, the Health Care Plan is Offering 
Booms,'' ``GOP Changes May be Worth Hundreds of Millions to Doctors and 
Hospitals.''
  Let us see what else we have here. ``Bills Would Relax Federal 
Controls on Nursing Homes.''
  So, let us deal with it. There are lots of newspaper articles and 
lots of commentary about the Republican plan.
  Mr. Speaker, tomorrow we will vote and the Congress will vote cut 
$270 billion in Medicare to pay for a $245 billion tax cut for the 
wealthy. I will vote against it. I will vote against it, because the 
people that I represent have asked me to vote against it. My 
constituents have sent me petitions, they have called my office, they 
have written heartbreaking letters, all to tell me to vote against the 
Republican pay-more-get-less plan.
  I want to share some of their thoughts and feelings here tonight. Let 
me hold up this stack of Medicare questionnaires that have been 
collected throughout Connecticut's third district by wonderful senior 
volunteers.
  The question put to my constituents was, would you support a plan to 
cut Medicare in order to finance a tax cut? The overwhelming response 
was no. In fact, more than 12,000 petitions were collected by our 
Medicare team captains in a little over 5 weeks. That is 12,000 
signatures opposing the Medicare cuts.
  The sentiment against the Medicare cuts runs high. Let me read a 
letter from Helen Patent of New Haven, CT, because I think that she 
speaks for so many seniors.
  She writes, and I quote, ``I am very, very upset that Congress wants 
to put such devastating cuts in Medicare and Medicaid programs. There 
are so many people that rely desperately on these programs. My husband 
and I are both very dependent on Medicare. After raising seven 
children, my husband is retired. We both have had triple bypasses 
within the past six years and have tremendous hospital, doctor and 
medical bills. Without the help of Medicare, we would have lost our 
house and all that we have worked so hard for. Please preserve our 
Nation's health care system to ensure that every individual has the 
right to health care now and in the future.''
  I say thank you kindly to Helen Patent for her letter. Helen and 
seniors like her all across this country depend on Medicare. They know 
that it works, and they do not want this Congress to destroy Medicare.
  It is time for Congress to put the public interests before the 
special interests. Read the headline on this article.
  But that is not what we have seen in this body when it comes to 
Medicare. In fact, in the last week, two groups came to Washington 
because they had concerns about the GOP Medicare bill. Members of one 
group were treated to a closed-door meeting with the Speaker; and 
members of the other group, they got arrested.
  The first group was the American Medical Association. The AMA got a 
back-room deal worth billions of dollars.
  The second group was the National Council for Senior Citizens. The 
National Council and the 15 seniors got a trip to jail. They closed the 
light in the hearing room, they put handcuffs on these senior citizens, 
they put them in the car, in the wagon, and they took them downtown to 
be arrested, and they held them for 2 hours. Yes, indeed, they did.
  What was the crime of these seniors? They came to the people's House. 
That is where we are. We are in the people's House. They came here to 
ask questions about a Medicare bill that affects their lives every 
single day. They wanted to participate in our democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, we serve at their pleasure. That is what we do, is to 
bring their voices here. They wanted to see the details of a proposal 
that has such a deep impact on their life.
  Medicare cuts are not an abstract issue to American seniors, and 
these cuts mean pain for our Nations seniors.

                          ____________________