[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 64 (Wednesday, May 5, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H2776-H2777]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRUE BIPARTISANSHIP NEEDED TO SAVE MEDICARE AND HELP AMERICA'S NEEDIEST 
                                SENIORS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest to my 
friend, the gentleman from Arkansas, detail a genuine problem. And as 
the citizen honored to represent the Sixth Congressional District of 
Arizona, home to many of America's seniors who endured a Great 
Depression, who took part in World War II, who built our American 
economy into the envy of the world, and who now, in their golden years, 
have time to enjoy a quality of life unparalleled, I still understand 
that for many there are genuine problems.
  How unfortunate it is, then, Madam Speaker, that when those of us in 
our commonsense, conservative majority move in a bipartisan manner to 
offer real choices to help the neediest seniors in our society, to 
offer alternative plans out from the auspices and away from the 
auspices of big government and bureaucratic solutions, how unfortunate 
it is that those who claim to

[[Page H2777]]

want a bipartisan remedy turn a deaf ear, Madam Speaker, I think 
particularly to the latest effort to help us save and strengthen 
Medicare: to a bipartisan Commission, with noteworthy Americans from 
coast-to-coast, and in particular representatives of both parties, the 
Senator from Louisiana, Mr. Breaux, and my colleague on the Committee 
on Ways and Means, the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), who took 
a long, hard look at Medicare, especially in the wake of the courageous 
steps this Congress took in the face of withering propaganda which the 
press accurately described as Mediscare, intent on scaring our seniors 
and obscuring the choices, and yet, despite that, we came back, we 
saved Medicare, and yet we want to strengthen it in additional ways.
  How interesting it was, Madam Speaker, to observe the labors of that 
bipartisan commission, and how wonderful it was to see Senator Breaux 
and the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) truly fashion a 
bipartisan solution. How sad it is to report, Madam Speaker, the 
unfortunate efforts of some to avoid a solution, to avoid helping the 
neediest seniors, and instead, attempt to invent an issue.
  Madam Speaker, in a few short days a Star Wars prequel will be 
released, it may already have been in the theaters, with wonderful 
flights of fantasy and fiction, but Madam Speaker, we have not a 
prequel but a sequel about to be unfurled, Mediscare II.
  Because in the wake of the bipartisan solution that Senator Breaux, 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), and others from both sides 
of the aisle fashioned, the word went out from the White House: A 
supermajority of 11 members of this Commission had to vote to approve 
the Commission's recommendations to take those good ideas and move them 
into the realm of sound public policy.
  Sadly, Madam Speaker, the word went out from the other end of 
Pennsylvania Avenue, from our president, that by actually embracing the 
bipartisan solution, some in this Chamber of the liberal persuasion 
would be deprived of an issue, an issue to drive a wedge among 
Americans, an issue to again scare seniors.
  Thus, Mediscare II took flight, because 10 members of the Commission 
voted for this commonsense solution to help the neediest seniors, but 
the presidential appointees from this body refused to vote for the 
program.
  How ironic it was, Madam Speaker, that our president, one who has 
come to this Chamber again and again and offered words of 
reconciliation and the term ``bipartisanship,'' how sad it is that he 
sent those instructions, and how unfortunate it is that our president, 
the afternoon the Medicare Commission's recommendations were voted 
down, had the audacity to appear on television and say again, we have 
to solve the Medicare question in a bipartisan way.
  Madam Speaker, we spoke yesterday of teachers, and our first teachers 
are our parents. A fundamental lesson most Americans learn is that we 
should do what we say, live up to our words, and mean what we say.
  How unfortunate it is that our president continues to be engulfed not 
in a credibility gap, but sadly, in a credibility canyon, where his 
words and his deeds, whether personal, political, or in terms of 
policy, fail to reconcile with his actions; the latest example, of 
course, being this Mediscare II.
  And I appreciate the words of my friend, the gentleman from Arkansas. 
But let me also say that we should really work in a bipartisan fashion. 
I would welcome my friends on the left to truly embrace a bipartisan 
solution.
  But as we have heard from pundits in this town and nationwide, some 
folks here are not interested in solving problems. Some folks here do 
not want to embrace a solution that would strengthen Medicare and save 
social security. Some folks would rather have an issue that they 
believe can hang like a sword of Damocles over the commonsense, 
conservative majority.
  Madam Speaker, we all confront many challenges in Washington, and we 
are thankful for the give and take on this floor. But Madam Speaker, to 
those who would embrace the cynical politics of overpromising and 
failing to truly live up to their mission, I believe history will 
render a harsh verdict.
  I believe the very people they claim to want to help are the people 
who will suffer the most. We will hear more Orwellian speeches from the 
left in the days to come. How mindful it is of George Orwell's novel 
1984, and the phrase, ``Ignorance is strength.''
  I do not believe that is true. I believe the facts will reign, and I 
look forward to working in a truly bipartisan fashion to save Medicare 
and help our neediest seniors.

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