[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 134 (Wednesday, September 25, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11231-S11232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I happened to be presiding this morning
when the very distinguished senior Senator from Massachusetts, Senator
Kennedy, made a number of comments. I know that he would not
intentionally say anything that is not totally accurate in reflecting
upon the positions and past performances of Senator Bob Dole, but I
think inadvertently he misrepresented his stand on a number of issues.
I would like to just briefly go over a couple of these.
First of all, it seems as if it has been over a year now since the
demagoging of Medicare has taken place on this floor. I was very
pleased a year ago today, I believe it was, to read an editorial in the
Washington Post. And, Mr. President, I do not think anyone has ever
accused the Washington Post of being a Republican publication.
So, finally, I feel that they looked at this and thought this is such
a serious thing, that the Republicans had a program to save Medicare,
and that by the admission of the board of trustees that was appointed
by President Clinton, if we did not do something, Medicare would have
gone broke by the year 2002, then that was updated a year later and
they said it really would be 2001, and the Republicans had a program to
control growth, not cut--there has never been any intention to cut
benefits of Medicare to the American people--but have controlled
growth, do away with waste and fraud and abuse and install some other
things that would make it a viable program.
So, finally, the editorial boards around the country, that are
normally not sensitive to Republican causes, rallied and said, we are
going to have to do something about it.
I would like to read the last two sentences of an editorial found in
the Washington Post a year ago, just about now. I believe it was a year
ago today. It was called ``Medagogues, Cont'd.'' This is the second
one. A week before that they had one where they demonstrated very
clearly and very persuasively that what the Republicans were trying to
do was to save Medicare. The last two sentences are:
The Democrats have fabricated the Medicare-tax cut
connection because it is useful politically. It allows them
to attack and to duck responsibility, both at the same time.
We think it's wrong.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of my
remarks, the editorial entitled ``Medagogues, Cont'd'' from the
Washington Post be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, the second attack on Senator Bob Dole by
the distinguished Senator from Massachusetts had to do with the
Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, implying that Bob Dole was opposed and had been
opposed to the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill. I would suggest to you, Mr.
President, that one thing that Bob Dole was opposed to was a single
payer Government-run system which the President had advocated earlier
in his administration. In other words, socializing medicine, taking
about 12 percent of the economy of this country and putting it in the
hands of Government because they can do it so much better than the
private sector can do it.
That is what Senator Dole was opposed to. He was not opposed to some
of the reforms that were found in the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill. There
were a couple of reforms that he wanted that ended up being in the
bill. In fact, the President said that if the MSA's, medical savings
accounts, were added to the Kennedy-Kassebaum bill, at one point he
said he would veto it. Many of those on the other side of the aisle
said that if the MSA's are in, it would be vetoed.
Why were people concerned about the MSA's? They were concerned about
them because those people who would want to have a socialized approach
to health care delivery in this country know that once we have MSA's,
we will never go back to that system.
What do MSA's do? They merely allow the choice of individuals so that
if an individual wants to shop around for his health delivery services,
and he can save money doing so, then he can benefit and have the
rewards of what he has saved. I think that our health delivery in
America is the only product or service known that actually has a built-
in disincentive to save. And I am guilty like everyone else. You know,
if I have my deductible and I go ahead and pay that, then I am inclined
to go and get any kind of medical or health service that is out there
because it no longer costs me any more money. That is human nature.
We finally got a modified medical savings account system put into the
Kennedy-Kassebaum bill. I say ``modified.'' It is only on a trial
basis. It is going to prove itself. I heard estimates that we could
actually reduce the total cost of health care in this country by as
much as 50 percent just by having MSA's.
Mr. President, there is another thing we need to do that is not in
this bill, and that is to have some kind of medical malpractice so we
do not have such a high defensive cost. But anyway, the fact that MSA's
are in there now--the President had said he would veto it if they were
in there. He did not veto it. I am glad he did not veto it. But
certainly it was never Bob Dole's intention to oppose the Kennedy-
Kassebaum bill with the reforms in it that he felt
[[Page S11232]]
were in the best interests of the American people.
The third thing that Senator Kennedy said about Senator Dole that I
think was misleading, and it was a misrepresentation of his position,
was in reference to tax cuts. It is true that Senator Dole, if elected
President, wants to come to Congress, which I believe will still be
controlled by the Republicans, and come with tax cuts.
He outlined five major tax cuts. I am very supportive of all five of
those tax cuts. People ask, how are you going to pay for them? I think
people forget about the fact that three decades in the last 100 years
Presidents have decided to have tax cuts, and in all three decades it
has dramatically increased the revenues.
It is ironic that Senator Kennedy would be talking about tax cuts and
all the damage that is being done when it was John Kennedy in 1962,
when he was President of the United States, who said, and I quote:
In short, it is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too
high today and tax revenues are too low. And the soundest way
to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut rates now.
The purpose of cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget
deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding
economy which can bring a budget surplus.
That was what President Kennedy said in 1962. And that is exactly
what happened during the 1960's with the massive tax reductions, and we
were able to have revenue increases--revenue increases.
Look what happened. The marginal rates of our tax system in 1980
produced $244 billion. In 1990, it almost doubled to $466 billion, and
that was during a 10-year period when we had the most massive cuts in
our tax revenues.
So I think that it would be good to go back and look at history and
see that this country, when it has been overtaxed in the past, that
they reduced taxes and had the result of increasing revenues.
Certainly, we are in an overtaxed posture right now.
I have often said there are three things that make this country
nonproductive, on a global basis, and noncompetitive: One is our high
tax rates; one is overregulation; the other is our tort laws. There is
not time in this brief time to cover that.
I conclude, Mr. President, by saying when Senator Kennedy assailed
Senator Dole for talking about tax cuts, that he start realizing those
individuals--those of us who want to have tax reductions--are the same
ones that were trying to stop the 1993 tax increase. In 1993, when
President Clinton had control of both the House and the Senate, he
passed a tax increase that was characterized not by Republicans but by
the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which was Senator
Moynihan, who said it was the largest single tax increase in the
history of public finance in America or any place in the world.
I think, essentially, what we--what Senator Dole, and what the
Republicans and the conservatives in this body and in the other body--
want to do is merely undo the damage that was done by that massive tax
increase and actually repeal the taxes that were increased in 1993.
Essentially, that is what Senator Dole wants to do. I believe that is
an accurate characterization of his program.
Exhibit 1
[From the Washington Post, Sept. 5, 1996]
Medagogues
We print today a letter from House minority leader Richard
Gephardt, taking exception to an editorial that accused the
Democrats of demagoguing on Medicare. The letter itself seems
to us to be more of the same. It tells you just about
everything the Democrats think about Medicare except how to
cut the cost. That aspect of the subject it puts largely out
of bounds, on grounds that Medicare is ``an insurance
program, not a welfare program,'' and ``to slash the program
to balance the budget'' or presumably for any purpose other
than to shore up the trust fund is ``not just a threat to . .
. seniors, families, hospitals'' etc. but ``a violation of a
sacred trust.''
That's bullfeathers, and Mr. Gephardt knows it. Congress
has been sticking the budget knife to Medicare on a regular
basis for years. Billions of dollars have been cut from the
program; both parties have voted for the cutting. Most years
the cuts have had nothing to do with the trust funds, which,
despite all the rhetoric, both parties understand to be
little more than accounting devices and possible warning
lights as to program costs. Rather, the goal has been to
reduce the deficit. It made sense to turn to Medicare because
Medicare is a major part of the problem. It and Medicaid
together are now a sixth of the budget and a fourth of all
spending for other than interest and defense. If nothing is
done those shares are going to rise, particularly as the
baby-boomers begin to retire early in the next century.
There are only four choices, none of them pleasant.
Congress can let the health care programs continue to drive
up the deficit, or it can let them continue to crowd out
other programs or it can pay for them with higher taxes. Or
it can cut them back.
The Republicans want to cut Medicare. It is a gutsy step.
This is not just a middle-class entitlement; the entire
society looks to the program, and earlier in the year a lot
of the smart money said the Republicans would never take it
on. They have. Mr. Gephardt is right that a lot of their plan
is still gauzy. It is not year clear how tough it will
finally be; on alternate days you hear it criticized on
grounds that it seeks to cut too much from the program and on
grounds that it won't cut all it seeks. Maybe both will turn
out to be true; we have no doubt the plan will turn out to
have other flaws as well.
They have nonethless--in our judgement--stepped up to the
issue. They have taken a huge political risk just in calling
for the cuts they have. What the Democrats have done in turn
is confirm the risk. The Republicans are going to take away
your Medicare. That's their only message. They have no plan.
Mr. Gephardt says they can't offer one because the
Republicans would simply pocket the money to finance their
tax cut. It's the perfect defense; the Democrats can't do the
right thing because the Republicans would then do the wrong
one. It's absolutely the case that there ought not be a tax
cut, and certainly not the indiscriminate cut the Republicans
propose. But that has nothing to do with Medicare. The
Democrats have fabricated the Medicare-tax cut connection
because it is useful politically. It allows them to attack
and to duck responsibility, both at the same time. We think
it's wrong.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ashcroft). The Senator from Wisconsin is
recognized.
Mr. FEINGOLD. I ask unanimous consent I be allowed to speak for up to
10 minutes in morning business, and following my remarks, that Senator
Graham of Florida be recognized for up to 15 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________