[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6189]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REPUBLICAN CUTS IN MEDICARE AND MEDICAID AND TAX BREAKS INCREASE THE 
                                DEFICIT

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, it is the same old thing that we went 
through last year: Here comes the budget again, and the Republicans are 
slashing Medicare and Medicaid to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. 
The amazing thing about it is that they are doing it this year and 
actually increasing the deficit. The deficit goes up from a current 
projection of $130 billion for fiscal year 1996 to $153 billion for 
fiscal year 1997, so not only are they trying to destroy the Medicare 
and Medicaid Program, they are also going against their alleged promise 
that they are going to reduce the deficit in order to do it.
  Do Members know where this money is going? All these cuts are going 
into a giant slush fund. One of my colleagues said before, they are not 
using the Medicare and Medicaid money in order to pay for tax breaks. 
In fact, they are, because the cuts go into a slush fund. That slush 
fund will be used later during the budget process in order to provide 
those tax breaks for the wealthy. It is the same old story again. The 
Republicans do not care about the average person. They are just trying 
to help their rich friends.

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