[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 63 (Wednesday, May 14, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2662-H2663]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         IMPORTANT COMPONENTS OF THE BALANCED BUDGET AGREEMENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Jenkins). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 7, 1997, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Boehner] is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker, tonight over the next hour, I and my 
colleagues in the Republican leadership here in the U.S. House will be 
discussing our agreement with the White House to balance the Federal 
budget over the next 5 years, the permanent tax cuts that will be part 
of this plan, our efforts to protect and preserve Medicare, and other 
important parts of this agreement.
  We expect that the Speaker will be here to talk about what is in the 
agreement and what is not. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey] we 
expect will come and discuss why tax cuts in this agreement are so 
important. How this agreement saves Medicare I will deal with in a few 
minutes myself, and why the critics are wrong will be covered by the 
majority whip, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay]. How this agreement 
maintains a strong defense will be covered by the gentleman from 
California [Mr. Cox], the chairman of our policy committee; and how 
this agreement reflects Republican principles will be handled by the 
gentlewoman from Washington [Ms. Dunn], who is the Secretary to the 
Republican Conference. Why balancing the budget is important for our 
future and our children's future will be discussed by the gentlewoman 
from New York, the vice chair of the Republican Conference [Ms. 
Molinari]; and how this agreement makes Government smaller and smarter 
will be covered by the chairman of our leadership, the gentleman from 
New York [Mr. Paxon].
  When it comes to the issue of Medicare, more than 2 years ago we sent 
out our warning to the American people that Medicare is going broke. It 
was not our warning, it was the warning from the bipartisan Medicare 
board of trustees. We took action 2 years ago to preserve, protect, and 
strengthen Medicare.

[[Page H2663]]

                              {time}  1745

  The liberal special interests, more concerned with winning elections 
and solving a crisis, made sure that our reforms never became law.
  Since President Clinton vetoed our bill the trust fund has lost tens 
of billions of dollars, and now we know that unless we act, the fund 
which provides hospital coverage for nearly 40 million seniors will be 
broke by the year 2001, one year earlier than we thought just a year 
ago.
  This agreement preserves the trust fund for 10 years, until the year 
2007. I think this should be an enormous relief for all seniors and 
soon-to-be-seniors that are concerned about the health of this program. 
This plan will not solve the problems with the baby boomers when they 
begin to retire in about 15 years, but we can lay the groundwork for 
our reforms through our actions this year, and in this agreement that 
we reached with the White House.
  What will these reforms be? The committees have a lot of work to do 
to fill in the details of the agreement, but we do know what the 
outline will be and we know what our goals, most importantly, will be 
as we go through this. We know that prevention saves lives and saves 
dollars, so our reforms will cover mammography, diabetes self-
management, immunizations, and colorectal cancer screening. Medicare 
will now catch up to the private sector and provide coverage for these 
important items.
  We know that the vast majority of seniors have to pay hundreds of 
dollars a year for MediGap coverage. That is why we will fight to give 
seniors the same choice of coverage that people in the private sector 
have today. Why should seniors not have the same choices in health care 
delivery that their children and grandchildren have available to them?
  That is really what we did in 1995, and we will work toward it again, 
to give seniors and their doctors the freedom to choose the types of 
coverage that they believe are best for them. There is good reason to 
modernize Medicare, because it is the only way to ensure that the 
program will be there when baby boomers begin to retire.
  Perhaps most important for seniors is the assurance that we will 
provide in our agreement that spending will keep pace with their needs. 
Spending grows every year over the next 5 years in this agreement. 
There are no cuts. There were no cuts 2 years ago, in spite of what 
many people said, and there are no cuts this time.
  Over the 5 years Medicare spending will increase 34 percent, which is 
about 6 percent a year, which we believe is about twice the rate of 
inflation that we are seeing today. Despite all the politics and the 
scare tactics, the demagoguery, the difference in spending between our 
package today and our reforms 2 years ago is $5 billion over 5 years.
  The chart that I have to my left and to Members' right indicates 
Medicare spending over the 5 years in this agreement. Under the 
balanced budget act from 2 years ago, we were proposing spending over 
these 5 years $1 trillion, 252 billion. Of course, we all heard the 
ads. We all heard how Republicans were attempting to cut Medicare, and 
all of the scare tactics that were used. In the agreement that we 
reached with the White House several weeks ago, we are proposing and 
have an agreement to spend $1 trillion, 247 billion over the next 5 
years; actually, $5 billion less than what we proposed to spend 2 years 
ago.
  Our agreement means that Medicare spending per senior citizen will 
increase from nearly $5,500 this year, in 1997, to more than $6,900 in 
the year 2002. We can increase spending and save Medicare because our 
structural reforms will make Medicare more efficient for seniors and 
their children and grandchildren who subsidize this very important 
program.
  We know what works in the private sector. Only by beginning to 
implement these reforms will Medicare be preserved, protected, and 
strengthened for today's and tomorrow's seniors. I am proud that we put 
the partisan politics aside to accomplish this effort in Medicare, and 
frankly, the entire effort that we have come to an agreement with the 
White House on, again, to balance the Federal budget over the next 5 
years, to strengthen and preserve Medicare, and to provide tax relief, 
permanent tax relief, for the American people.
  My colleague, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay], the majority 
whip, is going to talk to us about how this agreement is good, and why 
the critics are wrong.
  Mr. Speaker, I turn over my time to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
DeLay].

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