[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H11051-H11052]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ATTEMPT TO STIFLE QUESTIONS BY SENIOR CITIZENS AND 
                               DEMOCRATS

  (Mr. KLINK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KLINK. Mr. Speaker, today marks the 1-year anniversary of what I 
would consider the darkest day of this 104th Congress. Let me set the 
scene. The Republicans were attempting to cut $270 billion from 
Medicare, so they could afford to give tax breaks to the wealthiest 
individuals and corporations in this entire Nation.
  One week earlier, a group of senior citizens who purported to be in 
favor of that plan came into the Committee on Commerce and they dumped 
letters on the floor in a show of support. It proved out that many of 
those letters were from people who were deceased, or they were 
children, or they were nonexistent.
  This time senior citizens arrived in the Committee on Commerce to say 
they were against what was happening and they wanted to simply know why 
were there no hearings. Our Republicans, fearing the debate, fearing 
that question, ordered that those senior citizens, some in wheelchairs, 
some in walkers, some with canes, be arrested, arrested and hauled away 
by the Capitol Hill police, photographed, and fingerprinted.
  Today it is 1 year later. Many of those seniors will be here again. 
As

[[Page H11052]]

that occurs, we should also recognize that the Republicans want to stop 
the debate from the Democrats, who ask, where is the ethics report on 
Speaker Gingrich?

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