[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 186 (Monday, November 20, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S17506-S17507]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A LEGISLATIVE BLUEPRINT

  Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I thank you for allowing me to run over my 
time. I wish to at this time thank the leadership of Congress. I know 
the last 2 or 3 days have been the most grueling days in trying to iron 
out some sort of a blueprint on which we can get this country and this 
Government back in some kind of fiscal order.
  The President stepped up. I congratulate him. But I think you have to 
look around at the faces of those who have worked all through it. Some 
of us kind of took some time off and did some things we wanted to do on 
Friday and Saturday, not being involved in leadership, but that was not 
something that was afforded to leadership because they had to stay and 
stay. When you read this commitment to a 7-year balanced budget, even 
when it gets down to saying, yes, we have to assure Medicare solvency, 
that is the reason most of us come down for it. And Medicaid, or 
Medigrant they are calling it now, or welfare, all of this is something 
we 

[[Page S 17507]]
campaigned on in 1994. It is still the parameters of which we will do 
business.
  If we did not care for these programs, we would do nothing, we would 
not fight to make sure that this Government stays solvent; that we can 
pay our bills; that we can take care of the next generation in Medicare 
and Medicaid and help those people who we really sincerely believe need 
help. It is our responsibility to help them. That was the driving force 
behind this whole plan on the Republican side when I campaigned last 
year.
  Had we not cared, we would have turned our back on this and said, 
``Do it any way you want to, Mr. President. We will keep on doing 
business the way we have been doing it for 40 years,'' or at least the 
last 6 years that I have been here. We could have said no, but we did 
not do that. We did what was responsible. We came to the forefront to 
fix it, to save it, to make it stronger and make sure we assure the 
integrity of the programs designed to serve the people on Medicaid and 
Medicare, the needy and not the greedy.
  I think we have done that. Now the hard work begins. We will get onto 
the main playing field. There will be a lot of dust and a lot of talk, 
but basically what you looked at yesterday is exactly what we 
campaigned on in 1994 and which continues to be the noble goal of this 
Congress.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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