[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 180 (Tuesday, November 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H12314-H12315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PRIORITIES MUST BE ESTABLISHED IN BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Foley] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I bring to the floor today some of the mail I 
have received, and I want to share it, both pro and con, for what we 
are doing here in Washington.
  Gloria Chamberlain from Stuart, FL:

       Dear Representative Foley: Please do not give in to the 
     Democrats in Washington concerning the budget or Medicare. 
     The polls are wrong and the people are with the Republicans. 
     Stay firm and tell the White House that big government days 
     are over. Thank you for all you are doing and please stand 
     firm.

  Mike Salyers, Fort Pierce: ``Support what you are doing. Hang in 
there. Need a balanced budget.''
  Diane Crisco, Port St. Lucie, FL. Balance the budget. She does not 
care if Government shuts down. Solve immigration problems.
  Lisa Carroll, Stuart, FL. Do not back down. We must balance the 
budget.
  Mr. Gus Heck from Stuart. Mr. Heck wants Congress to drop the riders 
in the continuing resolution and debt resolutions.
  Richard James of Stuart. ``Get rid of add-ons. You are holding the 
President back from signing CR because of extra stuff on bill. Stop 
holding America hostage. Very angry. Voting Democrat next time.''
  On Medicare we got a lot of responses from seniors. We sent out 
117,000 requests for information. We have received over 6,000 back. 
Many people support us but would like to stay on the regular Medicare 
plan. Would consider an HMO.
  Ms. Presensky from Fort Pierce somewhat opposes, wants to know more. 
Stresses take away fraud not benefits. She cannot get an HMO where she 
lives. We are hoping to change that. But she wants decreases in food 
stamps, decreases in foreign aid, decreases in welfare, and increases 
in veterans benefits.
  We have Ms. Sutter from Port St. Lucie. Strongly supports the 
Republican plan. Would stay with regular Medicare, and she can do that. 
Supports Medicare, decreasing food stamps, decrease in the National 
Endowment for the Arts, decrease in the B-2 bomber, decrease in foreign 
aid, and a decrease in welfare. Supports 

[[Page H 12315]]
veterans benefits. Please see that Congress puts some teeth in the new 
Medicare Preservation Act. Since its inception, the Medicare program 
has been riddled with fraud.

  Mr. Speaker, I want to spend a moment on that. I think it is 
significant that we in Congress face the fact that there is tremendous 
amount of fraud in our system of Medicare. We read and see the reports 
on TV, we see the special reports that many of the news stations have 
done, and it is appalling. It is appalling that in this Nation there 
are entrepreneurs in the health care industry that are ripping off our 
society for hundreds of millions of dollars.
  We have to focus on these problems. We have to find ways to find 
those perpetrators of the crime and take their licenses away, take 
their opportunities to do business away, lock them in jail like the 
criminals that they are. It is amazing to me that people can rip off 
our system for the hundreds of millions of dollars and walk away and 
say, well, we are going to get fined $10,000, so my theft of $100,000 
certainly works out as a better fiscal advantage for me.
  Mr. Speaker, I get that in letters constantly from my constituents 
saying to me, Mark, we have a lot of problems.
  Let me read this letter from Maria Rooney in Jensen Beach. She 
opposes the plan but would like to stay on regular Medicare.

       Just a few lines to support my choices. I am 75 years of 
     age and I work at a stand-up job every day. It also includes 
     lifting cartons of merchandise. I continue to contribute to 
     Social Security and to Federal income tax.
       I feel that Medicare can remain the same if controls be 
     placed on it. Too many are taking advantage of food stamps 
     and welfare making it an impossible situation for the poor 
     elderly who must depend on it.
       The veterans fought for our country. Many in impossible 
     situations, locations and living conditions. Many were away 
     from home for years.
       Immigration is out of control. At one point in time people 
     were sent back to their countries because of very strict 
     health rules. Now we take them in knowing they are not in the 
     best of health. Is this in the best interest of our 
     country, which is bent on taking help and aid from our own 
     poor and elderly?

  Well, Marie, we are very concerned about that. There is not a person 
on my side of the aisle that is trying to take benefits away from 
people who have worked their entire life serving in the military or 
seniors that are entitled to benefits. We are increasing the benefit 
ratio. We are spending more money. We are going from $4,800 to $6,700. 
We are increasing 40 percent on our Medicare spending but we are 
targeting illegal immigration.
  Mr. Speaker, it is amazing to me how our immigration law have become 
so lax; how people have been able to take advantage of the system of 
government, those that have served. I spoke at a veterans day ceremony 
this weekend, and it is sad to me that people, men and women, have lost 
their lives in pursuit of freedom in this country and we are telling 
them, in some cases, that their service maybe was important but not as 
important as other things.
  Priorities must be established in this budget. Priorities must be 
established for those who have served our country and served our 
people, but there are so many things that are wrong with our system. If 
we close our eyes and say everything is fine and go back to spending, 
and spend, and spend, and spend, this Nation will not clean up its 
fiscal house.
  I urge my colleagues as we continue the debate on Medicare to stress 
for more scrutiny on those that would rip off our elderly, those that 
would rip off our society and waste our tax dollars through fraud and 
abuse.

                          ____________________