[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 206 (Thursday, December 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15551-H15552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            CONGRESS GOES HOME WHILE FEDERAL WORKERS SUFFER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I never cease to be amazed at what the 
Republican majority does, and what they have been doing, in the last 
few days with regard to the Government shutdown and not moving forward 
in a positive way on the budget.
  This I guess is the sixth day now for the second shutdown that we 
have had of the Government, and amazingly, rather than coming forward 
with a continuing resolution today in some form that would allow the 
Government to continue to operate, but what we received instead was a 
motion or a resolution that was recently voted on, which I voted 
against, and which most Democrats voted against, that would allow the 
Speaker to recess the House of Representatives throughout all of next 
week.
  Let us not kid ourselves. Regardless of what rhetoric was on the 
floor before by the Republican leadership, the authority has been given 
now to the Speaker, to Speaker Gingrich, to basically go into recess, 
beginning tomorrow, into January 3.
  If that happens, and I fully expect it to happen, we will not only to 
through the sixth day, today, of the Government shutdown and the 
seventh day tomorrow, but by my calculations probably another dozen 
days with the Government being shut down.
  Basically, we, the Congress, goes home for Christmas and the Federal 
employees who do not know whether or not they are going to get a check; 
although they have been promised it, how can they presume that there is 
any guarantee of that, and they have to worry over the Christmas 
holiday about whether or not they are going to be able to make ends 
meet, whether their children are going to be provided for while we in 
Congress go home.

                              {time}  1830

  I find it totally objectionable. I was particularly amazed today with 
the continued onslaught, if you will, against children that is taking 
place in this Congress by the Republican majority.
  There was a brief dialog with the Republican leadership an hour ago 
about whether or not AFDC payments or SSI payments or Medicaid 
payments, much of which goes to children, were going to be made within 
the next couple of weeks without a continuing resolution. I do not know 
if the Republican leadership is even aware of it.
  The suggestion was, ``Well, maybe tomorrow we'll take up AFDC. We 
don't know if we'll take up Medicaid, we don't know if we'll take up 
SSI'' or some of these other things. They do not even seem to know 
whether or not with the Government shut down these benefits are going 
to be paid. And if we do shut down and then we find out next week that 
some of these benefits are not going to be paid to children or to other 
people who are disadvantaged in some way, how are we going to be in a 
position to make those benefits payable? What are we going to do when 
we are not even here?
  Additionally, today a welfare reform bill came up and amazingly, even 
though the House of Representatives and the Senate a few weeks ago 
voted for welfare reform that still guaranteed Medicaid or health care 
coverage for all children who are now receiving Medicaid payments, all 
of a sudden the conference report comes back and eliminates that 
guarantee.

  So when we talk about the Nation's children at Christmastime, whether 
it is the Government employees, whether it is the unfortunate children 
who may not receive cash benefits during the holiday season, or whether 
it is the ongoing concern over whether or not children in this country 
will receive health care, I do not see any real concern on the part of 
the Republican leadership or the Republican Representatives that make 
up this majority. They just do not seem to care.

[[Page H15552]]

  I have said over and over again that my biggest concern in this whole 
budget debate is what is going to happen with Medicare and Medicaid. 
There were two things that happened today on those two fronts, so to 
speak, that were particularly disturbing.
  It was indicated in several newspaper reports today that we should 
expect large increases in MediGap premiums, as much as 30 percent on 
the average, over the next year. The reason for that is because of what 
is happening here with Medicare.
  Right now many senior citizens who do not feel that Medicare covers 
them sufficiently, because they have to make copayments or pay a lot of 
money out of pocket for things that are not covered by Medicare, 
purchase supplemental insurance called MediGap insurance. MediGap 
premiums are going up as much as 30 percent. Why? Because increasingly 
the Medicare program does not cover what is necessary for health care 
for seniors.
  So if we cut back, as the Republican majority is proposing, on the 
amount of money that is available for Medicare for seniors, it is 
inevitable that that supplemental MediGap insurance will go up and 
continue to rise.
  The other thing that happened today, and this is the last thing I 
wanted to say in the time that was allotted to me, is that we had an 
event with a number of people who are taking care of elderly parents 
who are covered by Medicaid. They are terribly concerned, and I 
listened to their stories today, over the Republican budget and what it 
is going to mean for Medicaid.
  Under the Republican budget, Medicaid is no longer guaranteed for 
anybody, and many people who are children or care givers, whatever, are 
concerned that without the guaranteed eligibility for Medicaid there 
will not be nursing homes available for their loved ones or there will 
not be payments under Medicaid for their loved ones.
  Again, the process continues, the Government shutdown, the 
Republicans do not do anything to move toward these budget priorities 
on Medicare and Medicaid, and it is truly tragic that we are not going 
to be here next week to try to address these concerns.

                          ____________________