[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 162 (Thursday, October 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10466]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




[[Page H 10466]]


                  PROTECTING OUR IMPOVERISHED SENIORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for recognizing me.
  In my 19 years in Congress, Mr. Speaker, I have never taken a special 
order before. This is the first time I have ever done so. The reason 
that I do it is that unfortunately, the Speaker of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Gingrich], in making his final remarks for 
the Republicans to this great House on the historic Medicare bill, 
invoked my name several times and attributed to me a motive to 
deliberately mislead this House with regard to the fact of whether or 
not the 11 million widows in the United States who live on an income of 
under $8,000 a year have protection, to ensure that they will not have 
to shoulder the burden of the dramatic increase in their part B 
premiums that has been included in the Republican Medicare reform.

  The Speaker stated that, in fact, I should have done my homework in 
order to know that they are covered, and that in fact it was misleading 
to say that they were not covered, and that all who are below the 
poverty level have their premiums covered under the law of the United 
States.
  Well, technically speaking, the Speaker is correct. They are covered 
under existing law, and the Speaker will continue to be correct for at 
least 5 more days, or until next Tuesday when the Republican Medicaid 
bill comes on to the floor which strips out the protection and the 
extra subsidy which those below the poverty level receive for their 
Medicare part B premium. At that point at which the Medicaid bill of 
the Republicans hits the floor, there will be no protections for those 
widows across this country numbering 11 million who are on Medicare and 
who will see their premiums increase over the next 7 years by a 
traumatic amount in order to put aside a huge fund for the tax breaks 
for the wealthy.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MARKEY. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I have been listening to the gentleman. Is 
the gentleman telling me when the Speaker got up on the floor and said 
that in their bill there was a guarantee that anybody under $7,900 
would have there Medicare premium part B paid, that he was not 
accurate?
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, he was not accurate because the Republican 
Medicaid bill, which will be out here on the floor next week, will 
strip out that guarantee. In the Republican Medicaid bill, as you know, 
they block-grant the Medicaid program, cut the whole program by 20 
percent, send it back to the States, and in fact repeal every 
requirement that we in this Congress have put on the books to protect 
those elderly seniors.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, does the 
gentleman then mean that the only way to have ensured that seniors 
under $7,900 would not have their premium increased was to vote for the 
motion to recommit?
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is correct. The only way to 
guarantee that they will be protected.
  Now, let me add as well that in our committee we had a vote on an 
amendment made by the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] to 
protect them. On a party line vote all Republicans voted not to protect 
the seniors. On the Medicare bill we did the same thing with an 
amendment by the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Rush] to protect the 
senior, more impoverished elderly, those widows, so that they would not 
have to pay the premium.
  So I assume, to be quite frank with the gentleman, the Speaker is a 
busy man and he does not have time to peruse each and every piece of 
legislation. That is the only conclusion that I can reach and be, I 
think, noncontentious in terms of what he might have intended.
  Mr. Speaker, next week the Medicaid bill goes before the Committee on 
Rules, and we intend on making this amendment, one that we request the 
Committee on Rules to put in order on the floor next week as part of 
the Medicaid bill. If the Speaker wants to ensure that every senior 
impoverished widow in America is protected, we will have an opportunity 
in the committee on Rules to have that amendment put in order, and 
every Member out here on the floor, if the Republicans put that 
amendment in order, will have a chance to make true what it was the 
Speaker said on the floor today. Otherwise, there will be no 
protection.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for clarifying that 
issue.
  Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman from Maryland very much.

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