[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3666]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           DEMOCRATS SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING TO SAVE MEDICARE

  (Ms. DUNN of Washington asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DUNN of Washington. Mr. Speaker, this morning's New York Times 
carried a disturbing report that I believe deserves notice. The banner 
reads ``New Medicare Trust Fund Data Show Unusually Large Shortfall.''
  Mr. Speaker, the article says the Medicare hospital insurance trust 
fund lost $4.2 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, 
since the first of October, which suggests that the financial condition 
of this program is even worse than what was projected by the 
administration last year. During all of fiscal year 1995 the Medicare 
trust fund lost $35.7 million, when it should have been a surplus. But 
now, just in the first half of this year, Medicare has lost over $4 
billion.
  Last year Bill Clinton vetoed the Congress' Medicare Preservation 
Act, which would have reformed Medicare. The issue is clear, Mr. 
Speaker. Liberals would rather sit back and do nothing to save Medicare 
and then demonize conservatives for their good faith effort to deal 
with the problem. I think it is outrageous that the other party would 
risk our parents and grandparents to score political points.

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