[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 161 (Wednesday, October 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10303]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            FACTS ARE FACTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. Ward] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WARD. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow Congress will vote on the Republican 
plan to cut $270 billion from Medicare to pay for a $245 billion tax 
cut, and I would hope that the gentleman from Florida would listen to 
this, because the gentleman from Florida was just saying that that tax 
cut is just going to the families with children. Well, if that were 
true, it would not be $245 billion, gentlemen. It is $245 billion 
because there is a whole range of tax cuts in that proposal.
  Fifty-two percent of it is going to the top 12 percent of income 
earners in this country. One out of eight taxpayers will get the 
benefit of that.
  Mr. Speaker, facts are facts. It is not all the child, the $500 per 
child. Even in that case, that has not been limited to families who are 
working to get ahead. It has been given to families way above what it 
should be.
  More importantly, included in that is a reduction in the very 
programs that help keep people off of welfare, and the $500 is not even 
going to go to people who are paying that much when all taxes are taken 
into account, not just income taxes. So it is very disappointing to 
hear those kinds of words spoken on this floor tonight.
  I would like to yield a couple of moments to the gentleman from New 
Jersey [Mr. Andrews].
  Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, we are meeting tonight at a time when the 
esteem of Congress and the esteem of American politics is at an all-
time low. The spectacle that is about to unfold in this room in the 
next 24 hours will do everything to increase that cynicism and 
skepticism.
  Mr. Speaker, at about 25 minutes to 11 tonight those watching us 
probably saw a brief interruption in the proceedings when there was an 
announcement made that the bill was actually brought forward for the 
first time. This is a piece of legislation that will affect the health 
care of over 30 million people. The bill was finished at 25 of 11 
tonight.
  When most people vote on this tomorrow, I doubt that very many will 
not have read it. All day long today there were meetings between the 
Republican leadership and the Republican Members to talk about what 
they could do to get the 218 votes, and we are going to find out 
tomorrow what they did, because we have not seen the bill until 25 
minutes of 11 tonight.

  Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to yield back to the gentleman from 
Kentucky [Mr. Ward].
  Mr. WARD. Mr. Speaker, that brings up a point that I think is worth 
mentioning. I spoke today at the Committee on Rules seeking an open 
rule so that we could try to fix some of the things in the bill that 
need fixing, but we were not given that opportunity. We will not have 
that open rule.
  But it reminds me of how I first saw this bill. Friday night a week 
ago, a week and a half ago when we were getting ready to go home for a 
week of time in our districts, that Friday night when it was expected 
that everybody was gone, that bill was slided under my door, or slid 
under my door, or as the famous sports announcer would say, slud under 
my door.

                              {time}  2345

  I called the Democratic leader just to make sure I was talking about 
the right bill. Do you know what? The Democratic leader had not gotten 
that bill. That was done purposefully, again, after dark, under the 
door, so that we could not make constructive proposals to fix this 
bill.
  Mr. ANDREWS. We do not know what deals or arrangements were made 
behind closed doors today, but we do know this. This plan, as it has 
been presented to us, will result in higher taxes on senior citizens, 
the choices of many seniors being taken away because they could not 
afford those higher taxes, layoffs at hospitals around America, and I 
think eventually higher premiums for those not on Medicare and 
Medicaid.
  This is not the way to do the people's business. There should be more 
time to look at this. It is ridiculous for us to be voting on a bill 
that was literally produced at 10:35 p.m. tonight, that will affect the 
health care of 30 million Americans, will take the vote before 4:00 
tomorrow afternoon. That is not the way to do the public's business. 
That is one of the reasons why the majority changed in the last 
Congress, and I think it is one of the reasons the majority may change 
in the next one.
  Mr. WARD. I want to share with the Members of this body a letter that 
I have received just this evening that came in this week from a 
gentleman in Kentucky in my district. I do not want to share his name 
because I have not asked his permission, but what he says is he is a 
senior, he is a Republican and has been all his life. He is willing to 
pay for it, for Medicare, in order to save it. However, he thinks the 
Republicans are going too far.
  I agree. I urge my colleagues to vote no on the bill tomorrow.

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