[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 162 (Thursday, October 19, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10469]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MEDICARE BILL HAS WRONG PRIORITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Vento] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, today, the process did not afford the 
opportunity for a very full discussion of the Medicare bill on the 
House floor, and so I wanted to take this opportunity to express my 
dismay and disappointment with the action of the House today, reneging 
on the basic health care protection that has existed for older 
Americans and for others that are the beneficiaries of Medicare for the 
past 30 years.
  The fact is that Medicare is in trouble today, my colleagues. It is 
in trouble because the Republicans, this new majority that is in 
control, has not given the type of consideration, the type of 
deliberation, that has been the hallmark of much of what has been 
considered in the past in this Congress.
  I think we are seeing a breakdown really of the committee system 
here, where the committees, even though this proposal has made some 8 
months ago, 7 months ago, no proposal was forthcoming; and we end up 
with a 1,000 page bill on this floor that dramatically and drastically 
changes the policy.
  I think, for starters, that the priorities are all wrong in terms of 
what is happening with the budget. The fact is that the $270 billion, 
it has been repeated today, that is saved in Medicare is not necessary 
for the Medicare trust fund. In fact, of course, much of it will be 
used for other Republican priorities that are in the budget. This is 
not a bipartisan budget, this is very much a partisan effort in this 
House, and I suspect the same reaction in the Senate.
  There are 245 billion dollars' worth of tax breaks and not tax cuts, 
tax breaks that go specifically to some people in our society, taking 
away tax breaks from others. In fact, an article in the Wall Street 
Journal today indicates that those that have incomes less than $30,000 
under the Republican tax plans will actually end up spending or 
actually end up paying more in taxes. Those under $30,000 will pay more 
in taxes under the tax plans that have been advanced by the House and 
by the Senate. That is wrong. I think these are the wrong priorities.
  I think the right priorities are to deal with health. If anybody 
wants an example of what is wrong and where we are today as compared to 
some time ago, this last year we were talking about extending health 
care to those that did not have it. We found that there are 40 million 
Americans from working families that had no health care. Today, that 
number has risen by nearly 1.5 million. There are more families that do 
not have health care. They do not have Medicare. They do not have 
Medicaid. They do not have a private health insurance plan through 
their employer or through their own means. They are without.
  What is happening today is we are not talking about meeting the needs 
of those 40 million plus in American working families. We are talking 
about reneging, pulling back on the Medicare system today to the tune 
of $270 billion today for tax breaks for the rich; and we are talking 
about next week taking $182 billion out of the Medicaid system. That is 
a system for the kids in this country, 16 million children, other 
millions of other people that would be denied the opportunity for 
dignity, for health care.
  These are programs that are for the American family. These are the 
programs that were put together so that we could meet the needs of our 
families, for my parents, and for others that might be disabled, that 
have the fortune to have a good, long life.
  The funny part about it is I keep talking about all the trust funds 
today, trust fund A and B, but the trust fund A has never been 
responsible for one dime of our deficit in this country, and the same 
is true of most of the Social Security programs, are not responsible 
for the deficits in this country. That is not what has created the 
deficit. Part B because of the health care costs is a contributor.

                              {time}  1900

  But the fact is that we cannot just, when the cuts are made, they are 
not just cuts. They are cuts that are made with no opportunity. You are 
not empowering senior citizens to challenge the system simply by giving 
them choice. You do not give them choice in this bill. They have choice 
today. They have HMO's, they have preferred physician options. They 
have those types of choices already today.
  This offers nothing new. What you take is you are taking away the 
very tools they need to challenge the cost of what health care is 
today, taking away the ability to pursue fraud, taking away the legal 
system, the ability to challenge the medical doctor when in fact they 
make a mistake, when they do something wrong, taking away the 
accountability in this bill, taking away $270 billion and any ability 
or most of the ability for older Americans and for others in this 
health care system to really deal with that.
  In other words, you are making them pay more, considerably more for 
the part B premiums and giving them less in benefits, capping the 
benefits. Read what is in your bill. Read what is in your particular 
proposals. You have not done so. You do not know what it is.
  I think there are many Members in this body from what I can see that 
do not even understand what current funding means with regard to Social 
Security and Medicare, where the workers today are paying for the 
benefits of those that are receiving them and we are usually ahead 
about a year. That is what current funding is, but they do not 
understand it. They cannot predict it. But yet they are up here cutting 
$270 billion in Medicare benefits to give tax breaks to their wealthy 
contributors and their special interests. It is wrong and it should 
have been defeated today, not passed.

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