[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8104]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SORTING THROUGH THE REPUBLICANS' VOTING RECORD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, as we go into any election, one of the 
hardest things is to figure out where the candidates really stand on 
issues. And when we go into any third-grade class in America and we ask 
the 8-year-olds, ``Okay, what is the best predictor of what someone is 
going to do if they get elected, how they have been voting and what 
they have been saying or what they say in the last 6 weeks before the 
election?'' every third-grader in America will tell us that the best 
predictor is what they have been doing, not what they were promising as 
the heat turns up in the last few weeks. So the difficulty is to find 
out and to sort through that voting record.
  No one has ever elected a President or a Member of Congress or a 
Member of the Senate who was for big debts, loved war, hated kids, 
wanted to tromp all over the elderly, could not stand trees. No, no one 
has ever done that. So when we see the promises and then we see the 
performance, it is very different.

  I must say, after saying that, I am very troubled about the debate we 
have been having here on the floor today, because no matter who the 
candidate Bob Dole selects for his Vice President, his real Vice 
President is going to be the Speaker of the House. People know this is 
a team and whatever comes out of here is going to be signed by 
President Dole, if he becomes President Dole. So that is why all this 
great concern about what the Speaker said about Medicare.
  The Speaker said about Medicare, and all sorts of the written press 
reported it, The Washington Post and all sorts of other newspapers, he 
said, ``we don't get rid of it in round 1 because we don't think that 
is politically smart.'' Get it? Members do not want to let them know 
exactly what they think about it.
  Then he goes on to say we are going to go through this transition 
period and ``we think it's going to wither on the vine,'' because they 
are going to offer these little goodies that we have seen that will 
lure out the wealthiest and the healthiest, so that the thing will 
suddenly be left with the sickest and the poorest and suddenly folks 
will say we cannot afford it, let them go.
  Now, we know what that is. The gentleman from Texas just went through 
and pointed out that when his press secretary was asked about it, he 
indeed said yes, yes, that is what we meant, we were talking about 
Social Security. When he was home talking in Atlanta, the Atlanta 
Constitution got the same confirmation, yes, that is what he means, not 
Social Security but he was talking about Medicare, so he clarified it 
over and over again. It was on TV. We have got tapes of it.
  Now there are people trying to run ads so the American people will 
know what President-elect or Presidential candidate Dole's real Vice 
President, Speaker Gingrich, really thinks about this issue.
  If they continue to try and take these ads off TV, we are going to be 
in the same position Red Riding Hood was, because what they are trying 
to do is let Speaker Gingrich dress up in grandma's clothing. That is 
exactly what they are trying to do. They are trying to now take their 
words back and get the wolf in bed looking like sweet little old 
grandma until this election is over, and then they can go back to round 
2 and take on Medicare the way they hope to.
  So I really hope that America's news media does their research, looks 
at this and continues to let people know what third graders want to 
know when they vote, and that is what do they really think and how did 
they really vote and what did they really do, rather than what are they 
now trying to cast themselves as we go to cast our vote.

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