[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 48 (Tuesday, April 22, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3397-S3398]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS

  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I want to raise a couple of points here as 
we move through the budget negotiations. There are ongoing negotiations 
with the White House relative to trying to

[[Page S3398]]

reach a budget agreement. But those negotiations deal with a budget 
that will run through the year 2002. My concern is that, as we look at 
a budget in that short timeframe, action which we take to address a 
budget that would reach balance by 2002 would have impact beyond that 
period, obviously, because we will put in place decisions that are not 
going to end at the time that budget concludes in 2002, but it will 
affect spending beyond that time.

  In two major accounts, the President's budget, as proposed, is 
basically a budget that has a low initial cost but has a dramatic, 
explosive cost in the outyears when you get past the year 2002. Both in 
the Medicare account and the Medicaid account, the President's budget, 
as sent up here, has significant increases in spending, but those 
increases in spending that are for the 5-year timeframe running through 
2002 are really minuscule compared to the spending that will occur in 
the period after 2002. I believe this needs to be highlighted because, 
if it is not, I am afraid we will adopt initiatives in the President's 
budget that come out of it as part of this process of building our own 
budget and reaching a bipartisan budget.
  I am concerned that we will adopt initiatives that will cost us 
dramatic amounts of money outside the budget window and, once again, 
aggravate the real problem that confronts the country. We would be 
passing on to our children a country with huge debts of obligation that 
our children will never be able to pay.
  Let me highlight this in specifics. Under the President's proposal 
for Medicare, there is $33 billion in new spending during the budget 
window, through the year 2002. When you go beyond the year 2002 to the 
period of the next 4 years--this is a 4-year period, and it would run 
past that, obviously--there will be an explosion in the cost of those 
new programs. Those new programs, which cost $33 billion in the next 4 
years, in the 4 years after that will cost $93 billion in new spending. 
That represents a 182-percent increase over the 5-year period. That is 
in the Medicare accounts.
  Some of these new programs involve the following--and I agree they 
are probably programs which we all feel would be nice. But the question 
is: Can we afford them? Can we afford to pass them on to our children? 
Can we afford to pass $93 billion in new spending on to our children, 
which is outside the budget window? Some of the new programs include: A 
new initiative in the area of cancer screening, for $2.5 billion; a 
direct payment to hospitals, outside of AAPCC, $26 billion; changing 
the way the Medicare accounts for the part B, 20-percent charge, which 
accounts for $42 billion; and a whole list of other new initiatives, 
all of which add up to $93 billion in spending that is outside the 
budget window, and is new spending for new programs and which will have 
to be paid by the taxpayers of this country, and, if not, borrowed from 
our children. In either event, it will aggravate the balance in the 
Medicare trust fund and continue to drive the Medicare trust fund 
toward insolvency.
  The second area the President has taken the same course of action on 
is in the area of Medicaid. In the Medicaid accounts, he has proposed 
$16 billion of new spending during the budget period between 1998 and 
the year 2002. But that $16 billion in new programmatic spending that 
occurs in the first 5 years explodes in the next 4 years to $34 
billion, for a 113-percent increase. That is a 113-percent increase 
over the initial spending period--another explosive expansion of an 
entitlement program through the process of adding new benefits. In this 
area, we are talking about new benefits for disabled, illegal 
immigrants, and new benefits for children of illegal immigrants. And so 
you have this dramatic increase in spending. When you combine these two 
proposals--the President's proposal in Medicare and the proposal in 
Medicaid--the new spending accounts aggravate and compound the problem 
even more dramatically.
  You see here that in the next 5 years, which is the budget period the 
President sent us on this, there is $49 billion in new spending in 
Medicare and Medicaid accounts. As you move into the outyears, that $49 
billion translates into $127 billion in new spending, or a 159-percent 
increase because of new programmatic activity. Now, what we are talking 
about here--and this needs to be stressed--is new programmatic 
activity. We are not talking about maintaining the Medicare trust fund 
or Medicaid trust funds; we are talking about adding to that program.

  Mr. President, we are talking about increased spending as a result of 
brandnew programs. So as we move down this road of trying to reach 
agreement on this budget, I think we have to be very sensitive that we 
not add a lot of new programs that may look affordable over the next 4 
or 5 years, but which, in the outyears, becomes totally unaffordable 
and further aggravates what is already a very serious situation, 
because we know the Medicare trust fund is going bankrupt in 2000 and 
this will only aggravate that. All of these costs, if passed on to our 
children, may end up making their capacity to have a prosperous and 
productive country much less. This must be focused on as we go down the 
road to reaching a budget agreement.
  I yield back such time as I may have left. I appreciate the Senator 
from Nevada allowing me to speak at this point, during the time of the 
Democratic leader.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Nevada.

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