[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 156 (Saturday, November 8, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H10353-H10354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SCARING SENIORS

  (Mr. GREEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN. Mr. Speaker, there is a special place in hell for people 
in groups who scare seniors to raise money. Senior citizens all over 
the country receive dozens of letters a week, mass mailings from 
supposedly nonpartisan groups that confuse and frighten seniors in 
asking for their money to save Medicare and Social Security, letters 
like this one from some group called the United Senior' Association.
  This last week I had a senior citizen calling me after he got this 
letter and literally crying because he could not afford to send the 
money, and he wanted to make sure he could still have Medicare. After a 
while I think senior citizens groups and senior citizens become 
convinced the sky is falling from some of these groups.
  I represent a blue collar district, and I know that our seniors 
cannot afford to send $10, $15, $20 to these groups in Washington, DC 
or Virginia. While many of these groups are run by partisan groups, 
some by Democrats, some by Republicans, Republicans are not amused. In 
fact, I saw a dear colleague this week from my colleague the gentleman 
from California [Mr. Thomas]. He had his own problems with these 
mailing list groups on the subject of

[[Page H10354]]

Medicare private contracting. Admittedly, he and I come from different 
points of view, but we share the same problem from some of these 
groups.

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