[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 9, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1028]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          MEDICARE, SOCIAL SECURITY, AND PAYING DOWN OUR DEBT

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Medicare and social security are two 
of the greatest programs for our citizens. They provide the two 
fundamental keys to retirement security, medical and financial 
security.
  Before this Congress spends the budget surplus either on tax cuts or 
anything else, we have a responsibility to every American, past, 
present, and the future, to save these two American treasures, and also 
to pay off at least some of our national debt.
  The bad news will only come if people try to make these programs more 
political or, worse yet, to dismantle social security and Medicare. 
Retirement security and senior health care are popular with the 
American people for a simple reason, because they work, and they have 
worked for many years, and paying down the national debt just make 
common sense.

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