[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 23396]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  BUDGET TIME MEANS ``MEDISCARE'' TIME

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous 
material.)

  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, it is budget time, so it is ``Mediscare'' 
time. We have the age-old tactics that, when one does not have the 
facts, start scaring people. Who is the easiest of the population to 
scare? The seniors, beating up on Grandma and Grandpa. That appears to 
be what the White House is already doing with the Republican budget by 
saying that the Republican budget takes money out of Social Security.

  I have a letter in my hand from the director of the Congressional 
Budget Office, the head guru. He says in short, there is nothing in our 
budget that takes any money out of Social Security. I will submit this 
for the Record. It is available for anybody who wants a copy of it. We 
will distribute it to our misguided liberal friends on the other side.

  But the fact is, let us have an honest debate. When the President 
vetoes the appropriations bills, and we have spent up against the 
budget caps, then the only question remaining is: Mr. President, do you 
want to spend more money? It comes out of Social Security. Is that what 
you want to do? At that point, Mr. President, what will you tell 
Grandma?

  Mr. Speaker, the letter I referred to is as follows:

                                                    U.S. Congress,


                                  Congressional Budget Office,

                               Washington, DC, September 30, 1999.
     Hon. J. Dennis Hastert,
     Speaker of the House, House of Representatives, Washington, 
         DC.
       Dear Mr. Speaker: You requested that we estimate the impact 
     on the fiscal year 2000 Social Security surplus using CBO's 
     economic and technical assumptions based on a plan whereby 
     net discretionary outlays for fiscal year 2000 will equal 
     $592.1 billion. CBO estimates that this spending plan will 
     not use any of the projected Social Security surplus in 
     fiscal year 2000.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Dan L. Crippen,
     Director.

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