[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 54 (Wednesday, April 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3733]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                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, I want to talk about Medicare. 
Yesterday the Treasury Department reported a new and totally unexpected 
$4.2 billion shortfall in the Medicare trust fund during the first half 
of the current fiscal year. Just a year ago, this very same fund had 
projected a surplus of $45 million for fiscal year 1996.
  My parents, the Blackburns in Bellevue, WA, probably did not read 
that news story, but it is critically important to them because they, 
like millions of others, count on the Medicare system being solvent. 
More than a year ago President Clinton's Medicare trustees, including 
three members of his own Cabinet, warned that Medicare would be 
bankrupt by 2002 if no changes were made. Yet the President did nothing 
to change it. He offered no long-term solutions and he offered no 
leadership. In fact, all he offered was election year scare tactics 
designed to frighten senior citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. Congressional Republicans in response 
to people like my parents have offered leadership. We want to save 
benefits for our seniors and save the Medicare trust fund, and we want 
to do it now while it is still possible.

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