[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 179 (Monday, November 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S16980-S16981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           BUDGET COMPROMISE

  Mr. BREAUX. Mr. President, I take this time to voice my concern about 
the current situation with regard to the continuing resolution that is 
before this Senate to try to keep the Government functioning. 
Throughout Washington and I think throughout the various States people 
who work for the Federal Government and people who have concerns about 
the services the Federal Government provides are wondering whether we 
in the Congress are going to be able to get together and make 
Government work or, rather, are we going to fight to the finish and 
nobody will be a winner, least of all the American people.
  Many Federal offices right now are debating the question of whether 
they are essential or not, which is sort of a novel thing to have to 
debate as a Federal employee in offices on the Hill and other agencies 
because they know if they are a nonessential employee, they do not go 
to work tomorrow unless we fix this problem. But if they are an 
essential employee, they have to come to work even though they might 
not get paid. So it is interesting to see whether you are determined to 
be a Federal employee who is essential or one who is not in order to 
determine whether you come to work tomorrow or stay home because we in 
the Congress and the administration have not been able to get 

[[Page S 16981]]
together and even come to an agreement on how to continue the functions 
of the Government.
  Mr. President, I am concerned that many people in my home State of 
Louisiana are beginning to believe that the Congress is sort of a 
nonessential arm of the Federal Government, and they are saying that 
Republicans and Democrats in the Congress are really nonessential 
because they cannot get together to find a way to resolve this problem.
  I think there is a lot of blame that should be evenly divided among 
all of us who have not been able to solve this problem. My Republican 
colleagues, because they have not been able to pass all of the 
appropriations bills to fund Government, have necessitated a continuing 
resolution to continue the functions of Government as if they were 
being continued last year, because we have not finished the 
appropriations bills. The problem is they have added a couple of little 
items to the continuing resolution which make major policy changes, and 
that is where the problem is. But it is not an irresolvable problem, in 
my opinion.
  It should be that grown men and women can come together and say we 
are going to move toward a position that will allow the Government to 
continue, allow the functions of Government to work, and I happen to 
feel if we are able to do that, everybody wins. The American people win 
because Government works. The Congress wins because we have been able 
to resolve a problem.
  I think we all lose if we bring this Government to a standstill. We 
are admitting that we are unable to govern. We are admitting that we 
cannot make it work. We are admitting that we are so stubborn, in my 
opinion, that we cannot meet somewhere in the middle.
  I think there is a way to fix this problem. I know there are those 
who want to bring everything to a halt to make a political point, but I 
think the political point we all make is that we all lose.
  Let me suggest this. The whole question is about Medicare premiums. 
Under the current law, Medicare premiums are going to fall down to 
about 25 percent of the cost of insurance. That is going to occur 
January 1. That means that if the law is not changed January 1, 
Medicare premiums will go down to about $42.50 unless some changes are 
made. Republicans have said: Well, no, we are going to not let it go 
down. We are going to keep it at 31\1/2\ percent, which means that come 
January 1 Medicare recipients are going to have to pay about $53.50. 
That is their proposal.
  That is a major change. I do not think it ought to be on the CR. I 
think it is a back-door way to change public policy, and that is not 
the way we should be doing it. So there are those who say: No, it 
should go down to $42.50. Others say: No, it should rise to $53.50 
because Medicare is in danger of going bankrupt so we need to pay more 
to protect it.
  Let me make a suggestion. Let me make a suggestion that grown men and 
women can agree to keep the premium just as it is, $46.10, until we 
work out this problem. It does not go up. It does not go down. Keep it 
where it is until we resolve the major differences in the budget. Let 
us not make Medicare recipients hostage while we battle over what 
Government should do. Keep the premium exactly where it is--no 
increase, no decrease.
  Now, the administration points out, and I think correctly, that the 
Republicans have also tried to do something different from the current 
CR, and that is that they would fund all of these other programs at the 
lowest level between the House and the Senate version of these 
appropriations bills. I think that is wrong. The current CR funds these 
programs at an average of what the House did and the Senate did. So why 
not do both of those things and fix this problem and assure the 
American people that we can make Government work.
  My suggestion is quite simple. Keep the Medicare premium at $46.10 
and fund the rest of the programs at the average between the House and 
the Senate. That is not magical.
  I mean, I bet a person in the eighth grade could figure that out and 
say that is a fair compromise. But you know what? He probably would not 
be a politician, because if he is a politician he is going to say, 
``Well, I can't do that because the other side may get an advantage, 
and, by God, I sure can't let that happen.'' So, I almost have decided 
the only way to solve some of these problems is to get people who are 
not running for reelection to come in and sit down, maybe get some of 
those kids in the eighth grade that know how to add and divide by two 
and split the difference.
  I think we could bring this to a conclusion if we did just those two 
things, fund all of the bills that have not been completed with an 
average between the House and the Senate. It is easy to figure out. 
That is what the current continuing resolution does exactly. If it was 
good earlier, it is good now. And, second, freeze the Medicare premium 
at $46.10 until we finish this. We can send that to the White House, a 
bipartisan agreement between Republicans and Democrats to get the job 
done. That would allow us enough time until the end of this month to 
work on the bigger issues. We should not hold this country hostage, 
neither side, because of who gets the political gain.
  Again, I repeat, the people of Louisiana are beginning to believe 
that Congress is a nonessential Federal employee. And that is a bad 
statement about the ability of this Congress to get the job done. I 
suggest we come together and get the job done.
  Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Abraham). The Senator from Massachusetts 
is recognized.

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