[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 166 (Wednesday, October 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10828-H10829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE CHOSEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Miller] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, the reconciliation 
legislation, that legislation which will end up controlling all 
spending and tax cuts to come before the Congress this year, is about 
choices. It is about choices that the Republicans have made for 
millions and millions of Americans. It is about the choice that they 
made to cut Medicare by $270 billion. It is about the choice they made 
in those Medicare cuts, Medicaid cuts, to remove nursing home standards 
for the protection of our elderly, to remove our elderly from the 
entitlement of having nursing home care paid for if they and their 
families cannot afford it in the twilight of their lives. It is about 
the choices that they made to cut $10 billion from student loans so 
that now America's students, their families, are deeper in debt to pay 
educational costs than any time in the history of this country. It is 
about the choices that they made to cut the school lunch program and to 
cut back on nutrition programs for those who are the most vulnerable in 
our society.
  Mr. Speaker, those are the choices of the Republican Party in this 
budget reconciliation bill. Those are the choices that they made about 
this generation of Americans. Those are the choices they made about 
that generation of Americans that fought the world wars, that fought 
the Korean conflict, that fought in Vietnam, who fought hard for 
democracy, who fought hard to save Western civilization in its time of 
need, but the Republicans are not prepared to fight for their Medicare.
  Mr. Speaker, we should fight as hard for their Medicare as they 
fought on the beaches of Normandy, or the beaches of Iwo Jima, or 
Okinawa, or in Korea. But we are going to cut that Medicare $270 
billion.
  Why? Because the Republicans did not want to make other choices. They 
chose not to have high-income Americans continue to pay their fair 
share. In fact, what they chose was what the Wall Street Journal points 
out. The choose to give them a tax cut. As the Wall Street Journal said 
to the rich of this country, ``Don't do anything yet, but start 
salivating.'' Why should they start salivating? Because the tax bill 
passed on Wednesday by the House of Representatives could turn out to 
be the biggest tax saving bonanza in years for upper-income Americans 
so we have $270 billion in cuts in Medicare to pay for $245 billion in 
cuts to some of the wealthiest people in this country. As we see, under 
the Republican plan, Mr. Speaker, 64 percent of the wealthy families in 
this country get a tax break, but 86 percent of middle-income families 
get a tax increase or they pay the same.
  Those are choices that the Republicans have made in this proposal. 
They have chosen to give the wealthy, the rich, those who do not need a 
tax cut, a tax cut. They chose to pay for it by cutting the health care 
to our elderly, by cutting the health care to our poor, by cutting the 
health care to millions of Americans' children. They chose to pay for 
it by cutting student loans, and they chose to pay for it by cutting 
school lunches. They chose to create millions of desperately poor 
Americans so that they could take care of the wealthiest in this 
country.
  They also chose to hold the Defense Department harmless. Everybody 
else has to contribute to balancing the budget, but not the Department 
of Defense.
  They also chose to hold harmless corporate welfare, the large timber 
companies, the large mining companies, the large oil companies on which 
this bill lavishes billions of dollars in subsidies to those who do not 
need it, to some of the most profitable companies in this country. But 
those were the choices that the Republicans made. They chose to lead 
those people out of 

[[Page H10829]]
the sacrifice that millions of Americans will be making in the coming 
years to balance the budget, to balance the budget so we can have a 
prosperous economy, but they chose that some would not have to enlist 
in that fight.
  Mr. Speaker, I say to my colleagues, If you're very wealthy, you 
won't have to enlist in that fight. If you're a defense contractor, you 
won't have to enlist in that fight. If you're on the corporate welfare 
dole, you won't have to enlist in that fight. But if you're aged, or if 
you are a student seeking an education, or a child seeking nutrition, 
or a family seeking a safe, a safe and healthy, nursing home for your 
grandparents, or your parents, or your spouse, you have to enlist, and 
you have to pay, and you have to pay more because the Republicans chose 
that many of the well off in this country would have to pay less and 
not contribute at all.

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