[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 165 (Tuesday, October 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CUTS IN MEDICARE AND MEDICAID AFFECT ALL AMERICAN FAMILIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, there comes a time when it is very 
important for us to reflect upon this Nation and some of the actions of 
this august body. However, sometimes we cavalierly resort to viewing 
what we have done as last week's headlines, or yesterday's story on the 
6 o'clock news.
  Last week on October 19, 1995, this body, controlled by the 
Republicans, offered to cut, and did, some $270 billion out of our 
Medicare Program. Of course, it was under the pretense that seniors 
themselves wanted to see the program fixed, and certainly no one would 
argue with that point.
  Many of us have stood on the House floor and have said that the 
fraud, waste, and abuse that has plagued that system needs to be 
remedied. But nowhere could any of the statisticians and financial 
experts, and even the trustees, of which the Republican body has so 
much relied upon, that is the trustees of the Medicare trust account, 
none of these persons can justify the $270 billion in cuts. In fact, 
one trustee, Deputy Secretary Rubin, wrote a letter and said that such 
cuts would be harsh, and I paraphrase him, ``and devastating.''
  Was anybody listening? No, they were only gloating over the headlines 
of Friday and the big articles, and that they now have another victory 
or another notch in their gunbelt. Why gunbelt, because these cuts 
destroy the very lives of those who have made this country--senior 
citizens--by cutting their health care.
  Yesterday, I was in my district, the 18th Congressional District in 
Houston, TX, and visited with a room full of seniors, about 800 to 
maybe 1,000 seniors at a luncheon program. I did not make a speech. I 
went table to table, hand to hand, face to face, and looked into the 
faces of those senior citizens, some worn, some wrinkled, to talk 
seriously about this issue called Medicare. I told them that I voted 
against, resoundingly, the Republican plan, but I was prepared to fix 
this system and to eliminate the waste, fraud, and abuse, and so I 
voted for a $90 billion reduction that in fact was responsible, but as 
well, accepted by the trustees as reasonable to deal with this question 
of reducing unnecessary Medicare costs acknowledging that unlike the 
scare tactics of the Republicans, Medicare is not going bankrupt. There 
is a 7-year life until the year 2002.
  I do not know about you, and we do more talking rather than the 
necessary work to repair Medicare, but I think there could be a lot of 
fixing in 7 years. Those seniors told me the pain they would experience 
with increased premiums, not being able to see their own physician, the 
cuts in the hospital payments would severly hurt our small hospitals, 
and, as well, the heavy burden on the Harris County public hospital 
system, of which many of them are part.
  As we continue this process, we now approach the budget 
reconciliation process, in that process you will find $182 billion in 
cuts on Medicaid. Some people do not understand. They throw Medicaid to 
the side, saying ``That is another deadbeat program.'' For those of you 
who are working and supporting children in college and may be part of 
the baby boomer generation, Medicaid protects your seniors who are 
indigent, who may need long-term nursing care. It helps mothers with 
children and children who need immunization. It is a program that has 
helped this country become healthier. Do we need to get rid of the 
abuse? Who would not stand on the House floor and gladly say yes, we 
do, but $182 billion in cuts? No. Do you think it is for any reason? 
Yes, it is. It is to give tax cuts to those making over $200,000.
  My seniors told me yesterday, they said ``Keep explaining this to us, 
because when the news trickles out beyond the Mississippi and other 
places, it is portrayed to look like the Congress is being 
obstructed,'' but they say ``now we understand. What work we, as senior 
citizens, have done in this country is disrespected and disregarded. 
When we come to a point in our lives when we need long-term nursing 
care that will not be there because of the actions of the Republican 
majority.''
  I heard my colleague talk about this process of budget reconciliation 
this week, as I have indicated, this will be done on the backs of 
seniors and children by cutting the $270 billion in Medicare and $182 
billion from Medicaid. This budget reconcilation process will hurt the 
working families of America. I heard a gentleman talk this morning on 
C-SPAN and mention that he had five children or five persons to take 
care of, he is doing it himself, and he makes about $28,000. I applaud 
him. He was complaining about taxes in this country.
  Do you know what the Senate did last week, in conjunction with what 
we did here in the U.S. House of Representatives? They cut out the 
earned income tax credit that would benefit those individuals making 
under $30,000, a program President Reagan said has been the best 
program on getting people out of poverty, that he has ever been able to 
support, a program proposed under the Ford administration. Yet, 
hypocritically, the U.S. Senate showed by their actions that this 
earned income tax credit was not a valuable program.
  Might I add as I close, Mr. Speaker, that one of the seniors I met at 
the luncheon yesterday was an older woman living alone. In her face I 
saw pain and distress, and she said to me ``Can you help me with my 
utility bill?'' That is the kind of person whose Medicare and 
possibility Medicaid that this Congress will cut. Is this the kind of 
person we want to face. It was not a pretty picture, it was a sad, sad 
picture.
  I do not want to sit by idly, watching while our seniors and children 
suffer. What about you?

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