[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H740-H741]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                DEMOCRATS SEEK FAIRNESS IN BUDGET DEBATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Wynn] is recognized during 
morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, we do have a new majority. Let us see what 
they have brought us. Well, basically we have had a year of acrimonious 
and bitter debate. We have had a costly and wasteful government 
shutdown and we still have a budget stalemate. Why?
  Well, the dust has settled and it is abundantly clear that the 
problem is the same problem it has always been. The Republicans want to 
give a big tax break to the wealthy. The Republicans want to give a big 
tax break to wealthy Americans.
  We will recall first they said, give us a 7-year balanced budget, 7 
is a magic number. The President has agreed to that. They then said no, 
we have to have CBO audited numbers, CBO real numbers. The President 
has given them that. They said they wanted to protect children and the 
future of our society, future generations.
  But when the President of the United States presented a balanced 
budget, balanced in 7 years with CBO real numbers, what did they do? 
They walked away from the table. Why did they walk away from the table? 
The gentleman from Florida said it is how we balance the budget.

  Well, they wanted to include a big tax break for the wealthy. The 
President has said he will not go along with that. The President and 
Democrats are for a balanced budget, but we believe it should not just 
be a balanced budget, it should also be a fair budget.
  In truth, in point of fact, we should not have any tax breaks in this 
budget. If we are serious about balancing the budget and eliminating 
the deficit, we do not need to be taking money out of the Treasury in 
the form of a tax break. But again the President has been willing to 
compromise, and he has offered modest tax relief for education 
deductions and for people with children under the age of 14 for the 
true middle class.
  But that is not good enough for the Republican new majority. They 
want to give tax breaks to people who make over $100,000 a year. Ladies 
and gentlemen, if their package goes through, half of the tax breaks, 
half of the $245 billion in tax breaks will go to the richest 2 percent 
of Americans. The richest 2 percent of Americans will get half of the 
tax breaks. That is not a fair balanced budget.
  Let us move on and talk about Medicaid, because that specifically 
hurts our seniors and our disabled citizens. Item No. 1, there was not 
a single public hearing on specifically Medicaid cuts. Many people do 
not understand and say, well, this is another, quote, entitlement 
program.
  In point of fact, nearly 60 percent of Medicaid funds pay for acute 
and long-term care and services for elderly and people with 
disabilities; 60 percent to the elderly and people with disabilities. 
Thirty-five percent pays for long-term care. That means when your 
mother or father or aunt or uncle or grandparents have to go into a 
nursing home, Medicaid is paying for that. Medicaid pays 52 percent of 
the Nation's nursing home bill. Why? Because nursing home care 

[[Page H741]]
is very expensive, and Medicaid also pays for home services for the 
frail and the disabled.

                              {time}  1245

  They want to cut Medicaid. They want to cut Medicaid and then send it 
to the State and say States can do it.
  Well, I have been in the State government for 10 years as a State 
senator. They cannot do it if they do not have the money. So shaving 
this money and sending down the so-called block grant is no solution, 
because the States, in fact, under their new program, would be able to 
cut their funds.
  This is not a balanced budget, not morally. It is an accounting 
device. But we want a balanced budget both from an accounting 
standpoint and a morally balanced budget that is fair to all Americans.

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