[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 82 (Thursday, June 6, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H5938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        SAVE MEDICARE ONCE AGAIN

  (Mr. VOLKMER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, in answer to the gentleman from Texas, I 
would like to know why the radical Republicans under the Speakership of 
Newt Gingrich still are proposing to cut Medicare in order to give big 
tax breaks to the wealthy? Yes, they lost last year. The President 
vetoed the bill. Now they are trying again.
  Look at their budget. We can see what Newt Gingrich says right here. 
He said it publicly, we are going to let it wither on the vine. We will 
not cut it this year, but in 7 years it is going to be gone.
  Not only Newt Gingrich, but what about the Presidential nominee, Bob 
Dole? Bob Dole is very proud of the fact: I was there fighting the 
fight, voting against Medicare 1 out of 12 because we knew it would not 
work in 1965.
  Yes, they want to get rid of Medicare. That is their whole proposal, 
and it is not just to get rid of it, it is to give tax breaks for the 
wealthy. That is where they will get their money.
  I say to the American public and I say to the Members of this House, 
we are not going to do it this year either.

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