[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 109 (Tuesday, July 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 WHEN IT COMES TO MEDICARE, THE DEMOCRATS ARE SCARED TO DEATH TO GIVE 
                      CITIZENS THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE

  (Mr. THOMAS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Missouri failed to inform 
the American people about one specific word. In the Speaker's quote he 
says, ``We don't plan on getting rid of it.'' The question is, What is 
it? The gentleman from Missouri tells us unequivocally it is the 
Medicare system. He knows he is wrong.
  Brooks Jackson on CNN exposed what the Democrats are doing. If we 
read the whole quote, what the Speaker was saying was that when seniors 
have an option, when Medicare is changed to allow seniors to choose the 
system they want, the old-fashioned, socialist, 1960's top-heavy 
bureaucratic system, will not be the one that seniors choose. It will, 
in fact, wither away. The only way to make sure that this comes about 
is for seniors to have choice. We had choice in the bill that passed 
the House and the Senate and that the President vetoed.
  The Democrats are scared to death to give the seniors the right to 
choose. If they can choose, they would not choose a bureaucratic 
system. That is what the Speaker meant.

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