[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 190 (Thursday, November 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H13808]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




WE MUST REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF TAX BREAKS TO THE WEALTHY IF MEDICARE AND 
                        MEDICAID ARE TO SURVIVE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, it is crucial in the budget negotiations 
that are now taking place that the amount of the tax breaks for wealthy 
Americans be reduced in order to provide sufficient funds for Medicare 
and Medicaid. Otherwise, seniors and low-income Americans will not have 
quality health care, or in many cases will not have any health care at 
all.
  As we see from this scale that we have shown before, the amount of 
tax breaks almost equals the amount of Medicare cuts for seniors. if we 
do not reduce this, there is no way we are going to have sufficient 
funding for both Medicare and Medicaid.
  The Treasury Department recently came out with some statistics that 
showed conclusively that the Republican tax cut is heavily weighted 
toward the rich. they estimated that the richest 1 percent would rake 
in almost twice as much, or 17 percent of the tax cut.
  Mr. Speaker, the message has to go to these budget negotiators that 
they have to reduce these tax breaks for wealthy Americans if Medicare 
is going to survive, if Medicaid is going to survive, and if we are 
going to continue to provide quality health care under those two 
Federal programs.

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