[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 11, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6126]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AMERICA NEEDS A NEW GARDENER

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, America needs a new gardener. When Speaker 
Gingrich insists that Medicare should be permitted to wither on the 
vine, it is time to find a gardener who knows the difference between 
strengthening Medicare and allowing it to shrivel.
  That is not EverGrow that Speaker Gingrich is proposing to pour on 
the vine of Medicare; it is the salt of neglect, of decades of neglect 
of the health care security of American families. That is not a green 
thumb that the Speaker is offering; it is the darkened green thumb of 
neglect of the health care security of American families.
  Mr. Speaker, we should focus on the Medicare trustees' report, for 
the real issue is trust. Should we trust the people who want to let 
Medicare shrivel on the vine, or should we trust those who overcame the 
opposition of Bob Dole and the Republicans of that era to build 
Medicare into a garden whose fruits of health care security are 
available to every American?

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