[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 113 (Monday, July 29, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H8633-H8634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CAMPAIGN COMMERCIALS DECEIVE SENIOR CITIZENS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Jones] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, a few years ago I served in the North 
Carolina General Assembly and as a member of the assembly I had a very 
deep concern about political ads, and in particular those ads that were 
intentionally developed to mislead and to distort factual information.
  My concern was that for a democracy to remain strong, we have to have 
informed voters and the people have to know the facts, and the facts 
from the fictions. from the distortions.
  Mr. Speaker, I have really been upset in the last few months and 
concerned that the labor unions throughout our country have been 
running ads about Medicare cuts and in my opinion outright distortions 
intentionally done to fool and to scare the voters. I think that is a 
tragedy for any democracy, because the strength of a democracy is 
informed voters and people that participate in the system.
  Mr. Speaker, as it has happened over the past few months, many of my 
freshmen Republican colleagues have been the target of those half-
truths and distortions. In the State of North Carolina, my home State, 
two of my very good friends, Congressman Fred Heineman and Congressman 
David Funderburk have been targets, just like other members of the 
freshman class, of these distortions and half-truths.
  Mr. Speaker, I thought it would be good today if I could read an 
editorial from my district, I thought, to even

[[Page H8634]]

make better points than I could make here on the floor today about how 
these distortions and outright lies have fooled so many of our senior 
citizens.
  I do not think there is any group in America that I feel more 
concerned about that would be misled intentionally than the senior 
citizens. And when I know that an organization like the labor unions 
have done this intentionally to scare them from voting for my 
colleagues it is something that we all should be concerned about, no 
matter what side of the aisle we may be on.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I am going to read for you the editorial that 
I made reference to. It was Thursday, July 25, 1996. The Goldsboro 
News-Argus, and the title of the editorial is, ``Don't Be 
Fooled: Campaign Commercials on GOP Medicare Cuts are a Lie.''

  Mr. Speaker, now I will read the editorial:

       People in public office should be accountable for their 
     conduct. At campaign time, it is appropriate for opponents to 
     focus on incumbents' voting records they feel might be 
     contrary to the public interest.
       Hence, the AFL-CIO sponsored TV commercials calling 
     attention to the voting records of Republican Congressmen 
     Fred Heineman and David Funderburk on Medicare would seem 
     fair enough.
       But they aren't fair at all. They are predicated on an 
     outright lie--and the campaign to re-elect Bill Clinton is 
     using the same twist of the facts.
       The presidential campaign ads claim Bob Dole and Newt 
     Gingrich are trying to end Medicare.
       The AFL-CIO ads targeting Heineman and Funderburk pointedly 
     accuse the two of voting ``to cut Medicare by $270 billion'' 
     a year.
       The truth of the matter is that Heineman and Funderburk, 
     like their fellow Republicans, voted to increase Medicare 
     appropriations by 7 percent.
       How was the AFL-CIO able to twist that into a Medicare cut 
     of $270 billion?
       It's done the same way the Democratic Party has been trying 
     to scare the daylights out of the elderly and the poor all 
     along.
       While Republicans in Congress have been working--in 
     response to a mandate from their electorate--to get control 
     of runaway federal spending, Democrats, typically, have been 
     loathe do so. Democrats, and President Clinton, wanted a 10 
     percent increase in allocations for Medicare--more than 
     double the annual overall rate of inflation.
       Republicans insisted on limiting the increase to 7 
     percent--not cutting the appropriation.
       While it can be argued that medical costs are outstripping 
     the overall inflation rate--as they have done consistently--
     one possible way of bringing this in check might be to put 
     some sort of restraints on growth of Medicare costs.
       I won't be done by having the government continue to fuel 
     runaway escalation of medical costs.
       All members of Congress should be answerable to the 
     electorate for their voting records. But the people of this 
     country should resent and reject political advertisements 
     based on lies.

  Let me repeat that again. That ``the people of this country should 
resent and reject political advertisements based on lies.''
  Mr. Speaker, that is my purpose of coming to the floor today. I think 
the strength of a democracy, again as I said earlier, depends on the 
information that is provided the voters and I hope that both sides of 
the fence will try to deal with the facts and not fiction and lies.

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