[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 167 (Thursday, October 26, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H10849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               CIVIL WAR

  (Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, today the Republicans are 
starting the second civil war. The second civil war between the States 
and States rights.
  What the Republicans are proposing in their block grant approach is a 
race to the bottom between the States. It is going to be a race between 
the States on how unfriendly the States can be to the poor, the 
disabled, and our elderly.
  By taking away the entitlement program for our senior citizens and 
poor children and the disabled, they are starting a war between the 
States on who can cut the elderly more than the next States in order to 
save money.
  Make no mistake about it, I came from a State legislature. I know 
what it is like being in a State house and trying to make ends meet. 
With the Federal Government abandoning the most neediest of our 
citizens in our society, they are setting up a divided country in this 
Nation, and I think that this is something that we have got to stand up 
against.
  Let us reject the civil war the Republicans are trying to wage.
  Mr. Speaker, today we begin a race for the bottom.
  Faster than you can say block grant, the leaders on the other side of 
the aisle have dismantled a program that said to children when they 
were most vulnerable and to seniors then they were most in need: If you 
are an American, you share a common right to basic health care.
  Today, when we discard Medicaid, we throw out that entitlement and 
replace it with a lottery.
  Well, as any one who plays the lottery can tell you--most people 
lose.
  Children, poor mothers, and impoverished seniors will lose under this 
plan that throws all the decisions to the States without the money to 
do the job right.
  We all know, States will not compete for who can do the most, but for 
who can do the least.
  After today, it will not matter that you are an American.
  What will matter is what side of the State line you live on.
  We will 50 different answers to what it is to be an American.
  I call upon my colleagues to remember that we are nation of United 
States and reject this plan that marches us down the road to a 
disunited States.

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