[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H15280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PASSING A CONTINUING RESOLUTION WOULD LET PEOPLE HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS 
                          AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Hefner] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HEFNER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to maybe digress here. I wish 
some of the speakers who have spoken earlier were here. I have been 
around here for quite some time, and some people have a tendency to 
kind of rewrite history here.
  The people that continually come to this well, and the good gentleman 
from Florida who practiced medicine in Florida, he said he was so 
concerned about his parents, and I feel sure he is, and is glad he 
still has his parents with him. Some of us do not have that privilege. 
But their rhetoric does not match up with the record of the Republican 
Party.
  I remember back early on when Ronald Reagan first came to office, the 
first budget David Stockman sent to this House called for the $125 cut 
for the oldest, neediest senior citizens in this country, to cut out 
the $125 for these senior citizens. I can also remember, and I look at 
the Record back when Medicare was established, and it got no support. 
In fact, the majority leader in the Senate said he fought, he fought 
very, very hard to try to see that Medicare would never become a 
reality. Social Security was not supported by the Republican Party. 
Certainly Medicaid was not supported by the Republican Party.
  The folks say to me, they say, ``We are going to give senior citizens 
a bigger choice. We are going to let you do, and you are going to get 
an insurance policy. We are going to give you some choice.'' One of the 
things that they crucified Hillary Clinton and President Clinton for 
was to try to get people to move into HMO's and these areas. I can just 
imagine if I go to Prudential or some carrier that carrier health 
insurance and I say, ``I want to get some insurance,'' and they say, 
``How old are you?'' I say, ``I am 66 years old. I have had open heart 
surgery. I have heart disease. It will get progressively worse.'' 
``Well, I'm sorry about that, but we cannot handle you,'' and the 
anxiety that it gives to our senior citizens.
  One of the gentlemen mentioned it is only like $100 or $150 a year. 
That does not sound like much to a Member of Congress here, but I have 
people who come into my district offices in North Carolina every day, 
senior citizens living on fixed incomes that have to make a 
determination whether they are going to pay their monthly bills or 
whether they are going to get a prescription filled. It is not just the 
Medicare and the Medicaid that is so wrong with the budget that the 
Republicans have passed. It goes to other areas. Unless they have taken 
it out recently, you have the spousal impoverishment that is in the 
bill. If one of the couple has to go into the nursing home, the 
existing spouse no longer can protect their property. Their children 
can be liable for that homestead or what have you. It is just a cruel 
hoax, this entire bill. It is not just the Medicare and Medicaid 
portion of it. It is all across. There is a mean spirit through this 
entire budget.
  The gentleman spoke down here and said the President sent up a bill 
which we voted on the other day which was a total hoax. There was not 
one day's hearing. They took some quotes out of some statements that 
had been made months and months ago and put together a bill with not 
one day's hearings. It did not even go to the Rules Committee, and they 
brought it here on this floor and try to pan it off. It was a charade, 
it was a phony bill, it was a phony vote to embarrass the President of 
the United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to get to another point. My grandkids, if 
you will permit me to be personal, my grandkids are coming here this 
weekend. They are going to spend Christmas with me. I do not have to 
leave this town. The gentleman made the remark his kids are coming. He 
is probably going to fly his wife and kids up from Florida to be here 
for Christmas. We can stay here for Christman. But there are thousands 
and thousands of American citizens out there that do not take part in 
this debate, they had no part in this, and they are going to be 
absolutely frustrated during the holidays. They are going to be 
concerned about it.
  Let me just remind my colleagues on the other side, they talk about a 
revolution that took place in November. Let me just remind my 
colleagues that 60 percent of the American people said, ``A pox on both 
of your parties. We did not vote for any of you.'' Your Contract With 
America said when you were going to balance the budget, you did not go 
far enough and say we are going to balance the budget, but we are going 
to cut Medicare, Medicaid, we are going to do away with clean water, 
all these things. Had you added that into the contract, the numbers 
would have gone down drastically.
  Why do we not do a continuing resolution, let people have a merry 
Christmas and a happy new year, and same to you, Tiny Tim.

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