[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 24, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ROADBLOCK CONGRESS

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, we have a town down there in Texas called 
Wink and a number spread out across the State that are so small they 
could be called Blink because you would blink and miss them.
  That is the way it is with Reform Week here in this Congress. You 
blink and you miss it because they just abandoned it. Instead of the 
reform Congress, this has become the roadblock Congress and so much of 
the roadblock that they would throw up is to our seniors on Medicare. 
Because if they are ultimately successful with their plan to erect 
roadblocks to access to care, as Speaker Newt Gingrich said with pride 
last year and with shame this year, ``Medicare will wither on the 
vine.''
  You see, it was not just one comment. It was the similar comment of 
Majority Leader Armey that he views Medicare as an imposition on his 
freedom and more than the comments is the action. Instead of reforming 
this Congress and changing business as usual, they concentrate their 
efforts on weakening and dismantling the Medicare system that is 
serving so many of our Nation's seniors. Let us reject their Medicare 
approach and hold them accountable for their outrageous comments.

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