[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 19, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H3300-H3301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              CLINTON ADMINISTRATION SHORTCHANGING SENIORS

  (Mr. SCHAFFER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, why is the Clinton administration 
shortchanging our seniors? Here is a story we will not be hearing much 
in the mainstream media. The administration is spending $20 billion a 
year less on Medicare than Congress authorized and provided under the 
1997 Balanced Budget Act. My colleagues heard that right, and let me 
repeat it. The administration is hoarding $20 billion a year from the 
funds the Republican Congress provided under the current law.
  Skeptical? I encourage my colleagues to give a call over to their 
friendly HCFA offices and verify these numbers for themselves. One can 
hardly grasp the irony of the startling facts. The same administration 
that has run millions and millions of dollars in deceptive Medicare TV 
ads aimed at scaring seniors is now found to be shortchanging the same 
seniors they claim to care so much about.
  We cannot blame seniors for becoming cynical about this 
administration's constant willingness to play politics

[[Page H3301]]

with Medicare. Do our seniors not deserve better?

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