[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 9, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H7135-H7136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CLINTON ATTACKS ON REPUBLICAN BUDGET NOT BASED ON TRUTH OR REALITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shaw). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of May 12, 1995, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Stearns] is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I came to the well of the floor to talk a 
little bit about Medicare because I have had town meetings back in my 
district, and time and time again I hear from both my colleagues who 
have talked to the Democrats, perhaps in Florida, about the cuts in 
Medicare. I want to again present some information about this erroneous 
claim.
  I know the President is continuing to run advertising claiming 
Republicans are cutting Medicare, which is not true. So I thought I 
would again just take a moment and talk about President Clinton, the 
budget cuts, and sort of defend what we are doing and put it in 
perspective.
  The President has claimed that with his rhetoric about Medicare, he 
is saying, ``When I talk about Medicare, there's no difference about 
what I say about Medicare than when the Republicans talk about 
defense.'' The reality, however, is that since 1987 there has been a 
steady decline in defense spending. In fact, it is at the lowest 
percent of our gross national product ever. This parallel between 
defense spending and Medicare is not quite there. I will go into that a 
little further along.
  Recently, in response to a question from CNN's Wolf Blitzer, 
President Clinton admitted in fact that Republicans are not cutting 
Medicare. He is right about that because spending on this program will 
increase at almost 7 percent a year. So the spending not only is going 
up, but it is going up above inflation at roughly 7 percent a year.
  How could spending which increases from $5,200 a year in 1996 to 
$7,200 a year for each beneficiary in the Medicare program in 2002 ever 
be called a cut? We always hear the expression, only in Washington is 
that considered a cut.
  I think what has to be said to the people of this country who are in 
the Medicare program, We have increased it 7 percent a year to 2002. We 
think this is enough. We think if you allow us to continue this 
increased spending at 7 percent and allow some choices, we can prevent 
this program from going bankrupt.
  Perhaps more than any other issue, President Clinton has hammered 
away at this Medicare issue by falsely accusing the GOP of, quote, 
cutting Medicare, when again it is going up at 7 percent a year to 
2002.
  When the President was trying to sell his health care package to the 
American people, his message was quite different. I would like to read 
exactly what he said when he was proposing in 1993 a new health care 
plan. He said:

       Today, Medicaid and Medicare are going up at 3 times the 
     rate of inflation. We propose to let it go up at 2 times the 
     rate of inflation. That is not a Medicare or Medicaid cut. We 
     are going to have increases in Medicare and Medicaid, but a 
     reduction in the rate of growth.

  So, frankly, there is the President of the United States saying 
exactly what we have heard Republicans say, yet the President is 
participating in this distortion of what is happening to Medicare.

[[Page H7136]]

                              {time}  1545

  Those who are quick to criticize or condemn what we are trying to do 
to save Medicare and Medicaid should exercise a little caution. It is 
wrong to scare our senior citizens this way. No one has proposed 
cutting any benefits. This will not happen. In fact, as the budget goes 
along, we are increasing it 7 percent a year.
  Now, let us talk about the First Lady. During the debate on the ill-
fated Clinton health care bill, this is what she said. ``We feel, 
confident that we can reduce the rate of increase in Medicare without 
undermining quality for Medicare recipients.''
  For the past year, the administration officials have been singing a 
different tune, it appears. So both the President in 1993, and the 
First Lady in 1993, when they talked about their health care bill, they 
talked about we feel confident, ``That we can reduce the rate of 
increase in Medicare without undermining quality by slowing the 
growth.''
  In fact, let us even look at one of their Cabinet officials, 
Secretary Shalala. What did she say about this? She said, ``Our 
argument is that if you are slowing down growth here and that is below 
what is happening in terms of cost out there, it is a real cut.'' So 
when the President proposed slowing down the rate of growth in Medicare 
and Medicaid, it was not a cut, but now that our budget contains 
something similar, very similar, they say it is a cut. As I stated 
earlier, only in Washington could an increase of 7 percent a year be 
called a cut, a cut be called an increase.
  Defense spending is misconstrued by the President. I heard the 
President say, well, you know the Republicans are slowing the growth of 
spending on defense and that argument is applicable to Medicare. But we 
really have reduced spending in defense. President Clinton describes 
defense spending as a slowdown in spending growth cuts. The reality is 
that since 1987, defense spending has not kept pace even with 
inflation, whereas the program that we have here with Medicare, what 
the Republicans proposed and passed on the House floor, is 7 percent, 
twice inflation.
  I want to be sure that we all understand the President's position on 
Medicare and defense spending. Medicare will grow again at twice the 
rate of inflation, yet the President says that is a cut. Defense 
spending was 2 percent of the budget in 1987. Mr. Clinton has put it at 
15 percent in his 1997 budget. Even though defense spending has 
sustained sharp decreases in spending since 1987, this is categorized 
as an increase by the administration; that is, the Republicans are 
increasing spending in defense when, in fact, if you look at 1987 
compared to 1997, there have been sharp decreases.
  How can anyone possibly who knows these facts want to believe what 
the President says? This is one time that old saying ``actions speak 
louder than words'' could be applied.
  On another issue, let us take a look at what President Clinton said 
during the 1992 Presidential campaign about welfare. One of his major 
campaign themes was, I want to change welfare as we know it today. Most 
recently in a radio address, he has said, quote, Wisconsin has 
submitted to me for approval the outlines of a sweeping welfare reform 
plan, one of the boldest yet attempted in America. All in all, 
Wisconsin has the makings of a solid, bold welfare plan. We should get 
it done. Those are his exact words. Well, what did President Clinton 
do? Well, he did veto two of the welfare bills that we submitted to 
him.
  Why do we not take a look at the President's position on the need for 
a balanced budget? In his State of the Union Message in 1993, he made 
the following statement:

       My budget plan will use independent budget office numbers, 
     CBO. I did this so that no one could say I was estimating my 
     way out of this difficulty. I did this so the American people 
     will think we are shooting straight with them.

  Well, what did he do? Well, after many other broken promises and with 
no proposal of his own, he vetoed the balanced budget that we presented 
to him in 1992. The President, while on the ``Larry King Show,'' stated 
emphatically, I will balance the budget in 5 years. As we remember all 
too well, he could not decide whether to balance the budget in 5 years, 
7 years, 10 years or somewhere in between. He also refused to negotiate 
with us for a 7-year balanced budget using real numbers scored by CBO. 
He finally agreed after many, many months of negotiations.
  Previously during his State of the Union, he said that this budget 
that we offered was acceptable. Well, what did he do during the budget 
negotiations in the latter part of 1995? He said CBO numbers are 
unacceptable to us because it commits us to accepting Republican cuts. 
Let me read that again: CBO numbers are unacceptable to us because it 
commits us to accepting Republican cuts. First of all, the President 
said he wanted to abide by CBO numbers and, second, they are not 
Republican cuts that he talked about. It is increasing at 7 percent a 
year.
  Now, when President Reagan took command of the White House, he kept 
his word and delivered on his promise to cut taxes. He believed, just 
as President Kennedy did, that tax cuts would stimulate the economy. It 
worked in the early 1960's, and he believed it was just what the 
economy needed. President Kennedy felt that way. In the 1980's, the 
American economy boomed. While President Reagan kept his side of the 
agreement, the Democrat Congress doubled spending during the same 
period. Ironically, President Reagan was constantly being accused by 
his critics of cutting the budget.
  The President campaigned, President Clinton campaigned, for the 
Presidency saying that he would give the middle class some much needed 
relief by lowering their taxes. Well, what did he do? He gave Americans 
the largest tax increase in the country's history, $245 billion to be 
exact. Some of my colleagues and the people who are watching perhaps 
can remember that quiz show from the early 1960's which was hosted by 
Johnny Carson. The show was called ``Who Do You Trust?'' My colleagues, 
I bring this to your attention because we have heard during the early 
start of this campaign the cry that Republicans are cutting Medicare. 
This is far from the truth. We have heard the President say that we 
have defense spending going up when, in fact, it is decreasing as a 
percent of the gross national product.
  We have heard the President say he wanted to balance the budget in 5, 
7, and 10, and then finally came reluctantly to agree with our 7-year 
balanced budget. He talked about welfare, making it workfare, but he 
vetoed two welfare bills. He talks about a middle-class tax cut during 
his campaign, yet he has not provided the same. In fact, after he was 
elected, he gave us the largest tax increase in American history.
  So Mr. Speaker, the 1996 Presidential race might be based on the same 
question that Johnny Carson issued when he hosted his show, a quiz show 
in the early 1960's. The show of course was called ``Who Do You 
Trust?'' Whom do you trust to lead this country for the next 4 years? I 
think it is clear that our candidate, Senator Dole, could be trusted 
and, based upon the information I have given to you today, I ask all 
the Members, who do you trust?

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