[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 24, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO USE BUDGET SURPLUS FOR OUR SENIORS

  (Mr. MARKEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, we have an historic opportunity. There is 
going to be, by all estimates, a budget surplus over the next 15 years. 
We can use that money for our seniors and say to them they do not have 
to worry again about whether or not Social Security is solvent; they do 
not have to worry again as to whether or not Medicare will be there for 
their health care bills.
  But what the Republicans say is they want a 10 percent across-the-
board tax cut. They want to return the money back into the pockets of 
ordinary people.

                              {time}  1030

  Well, Mr. Speaker, in 1997, structural reforms in Medicare and home 
health care resulted in a diminishing capacity to deal with the 
problems of the seniors in our country. In my own little area, instead 
of the 450,000 home visits for seniors who have a spouse with 
Alzheimer's or with Parkinson's, now this year only 270,000 visits.
  That is what restructuring does. It reduces the benefit.
  Let us save Medicare with the surplus.

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