[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5187-H5188]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ATTACK WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE IN MEDICARE

  (Mr. LONGLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page H5188]]

  Mr. LONGLEY. Mr. Speaker, we need to move beyond the harsh rhetoric, 
the sound bites, the slick language that emanates from focus groups. We 
have got to be honest. Medicine is in deeper trouble than we realized 
before. It began losing money last year a full 2 years earlier than 
anyone had thought it would, and it will be bankrupt in just 5 years 
unless we find a solution and begin to spend smarter.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not a partisan issue. Medicare is a program that 
is paid for by taxes on the wages of working people and by seniors 
through their premiums. We must find a solution to protect it, not only 
for current seniors but also for future generations. We owe it to our 
workers and our seniors and the needs of the future generations of this 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, the key to the solution is to attack waste, fraud, and 
abuse. We need to spend smarter. If we can just slow the growth of 
Medicare by spending smarter, we can save the system and give seniors 
in Maine and across the country a better program. But what we cannot do 
is make Medicare a partisan issue.

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