[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 65 (Friday, May 10, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H4880-H4881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE NEW BUDGET: DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, the Republican budget released in the last 
2 days is truly a throwback to the Republican budget that was rejected 
overwhelmingly by the American people just last year.
  Last year, the American people examined the Republican proposals to 
cut Medicare, to pay for tax breaks for the privileged few, for wealthy 
Americans, and the American people said, ``These are not our values. 
These are not our priorities. This is not what we want to see. We don't 
want to see the funding for education, for environment, for Medicare 
and Medicaid, slashed.'' And because the American people really spoke 
out, they rose up against this budget last year, Congress in the end 
passed a budget that protects our Nation's priorities.
  Yesterday, when the congressional majority, when their leadership 
unveiled their new budget, it was as Yogi Berra once said, deja vu all 
over again. We see the same skewed priorities, the same skewed values, 
and a willingness to do harm to working middle-class families in this 
country.
  One of the most disturbing parts of this budget is the way that it 
undercuts medical protection for our Nation's seniors. Republicans 
propose cutting $168 billion from Medicare, once again they propose, 
and their proposals and these Medicare cuts will result in less choice 
for seniors in choosing their doctors, the potential for closing down 
hospitals in this country, and for creating a second rate health care 
system for seniors in the United States of America.
  The $168 billion they want to cut from Medicare is not, do not let 
them fool you, is not necessary to make the

[[Page H4881]]

Medicare system solvent. They may say that, but again, do not let them 
fool you, and do not buy it, the way you did not buy it in the last go-
round.
  The money that is being cut is not going to be put back into the 
Medicare trust fund. Once again, it is going to pay for tax breaks. The 
President proposed extending the solvency of Medicare for the same 
amount of time without making the same deep cuts in the Medicare 
system.
  They are using the money from these Medicare cuts to fund $176 
billion in unnecessary tax breaks.
  If you want to know the real agenda of the Republican leadership on 
Medicare, all you need to do is to recall the words of House Speaker 
Newt Gingrich on Medicare not too many months ago. Not years ago, but 
not too many months ago. The Speaker said, ``Now we don't get rid of it 
in round one, because we don't think that is the politically smart 
thing to do, and we do not think that is the right way to go through a 
transition. But we believe it is going to wither on the vine, because 
we think people are voluntarily going to leave it.''
  The majority leader of the other body said that he was proud to have 
voted in 1965 against Medicare because ``it is a system that does not 
work.'' These people truly believe that Medicare is a wrong system, a 
bad system, and that it needs to be destroyed. Do not let them kid you 
in the direction they want to take the Medicare system. That is what 
the Republicans really want to do to Medicare. They want it to wither 
on the vine.
  The Republican assault on health care for seniors does not stop with 
Medicare. In their budget they also propose cutting Medicaid by $72 
billion. That cut, combined with the block grant approach, will 
jeopardize the guarantee of coverage for folks who are in nursing 
homes. Most people do not understand what Medicaid is about. It is 
seniors who are in nursing homes that Medicaid covers.
  In addition to cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, they propose including 
risky medical savings accounts in the Medicare system, a system that 
would allow wealthy seniors to operate out of the Medicare system, 
thereby weakening the program, allowing those who are most ill, most 
frail, to stay in traditional insurance programs, driving those 
premiums up, and not allowing people to be able to get health care.
  To sum up, what this new Republican budget amounts to is yet another 
assault on the health care system for our Nation's seniors. Unless they 
withdraw this budget and rework their proposals, I expect that they 
will ignite, and I certainly hope they do, the same firestorm that 
forced their retreat last year. Their proposal is wrong and 
irresponsible.

                          ____________________