[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 19182]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                 STRENGTHENING AND MODERNIZING MEDICARE

  (Mr. ALLEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, anyone who has been paying attention in 
this country in the last year would think, would know, that we have got 
some problems with Medicare. The program becomes insolvent in the year 
2015.
  So let us look at this Republican tax cut proposal. It devotes $792 
billion for tax cuts and does absolutely nothing to strengthen and 
modernize Medicare. The GOP plan does not extend the solvency of 
Medicare by one day.
  By contrast, the Democratic plan invests $325 billion of the on-
budget surplus over the next 10 years in the Medicare Trust Fund and 
extends it out to 2027.
  The GOP plan contains absolutely nothing for prescription drug 
benefits. The Democratic plan contains $45 billion over 10 years to 
help provide our seniors with help in buying their prescription drugs.
  There is no question, this tax cut and helping Medicare, improving 
Medicare, providing the prescription drug benefit, they cannot both be 
done. Moreover, the surplus, frankly, is not there.

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