[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 19, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H3300]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION IS REFUSING TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE HEALTH 
                      CARE FOR OUR SENIOR CITIZENS

  (Mr. WICKER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. Speaker, why is the Clinton administration 
shortchanging Medicare? Under the Clinton-Gore leadership, the 
executive branch's Health Care Financing Administration is refusing to 
spend money which is desperately needed by our Nation's elderly 
population and which has been authorized under the Balanced Budget Act. 
This amounts to an astonishing $20 billion this administration is 
withholding from the most deserving members of our society: retired 
Americans who are suffering from illness.
  There is a lot of discussion in this town about abiding by the caps 
of the Balanced Budget Act, and I support the idea of requiring our 
appropriation bills to follow the budget. But when the Congress and the 
President enact a statute that says funds are needed to ensure the 
health of our country's greatest generation, HCFA has an obligation to 
abide by the law.
  It is a scandal that the Clinton-Gore administration is refusing to 
provide adequate health care for our senior citizens.

                          ____________________