[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 149 (Thursday, October 28, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H11070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MESSAGE ON REPUBLICAN BUDGET BILL

  (Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, on the eve of Halloween, Republicans have 
many tricks to play on the American people but no treats, and it starts 
with today's Labor-HHS vote. This bill does not extend the life of 
Social Security even by one single day. In fact, Republicans, that is 
why the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt) does not want to support 
some of these bills because you have already spent $17 billion of 
Social Security surplus through your appropriation process.
  This bill fails to provide one penny for a Medicare prescription drug 
benefit, and this bill only does things that ultimately hurt every 
American family in some real way. Just like your trillion-dollar tax 
cut would have saddled our children with a huge debt without extending 
the life of Social Security and Medicare or making investments in 
education. And the final trick included in this bill is a 1 percent 
across-the-board cut that deals a blow to those struggling with 
diabetes when we cut the National Institutes of Health or to the child 
in my district walking into an overcrowded classroom.
  Let us give the American people a real treat by voting against this 
bill, a bill that does nothing for Social Security, nothing for 
Medicare and hurts every American family.

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