[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 10026]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                DEMOCRATS MAKE MEDICARE POLITICAL ISSUE

  (Mr. WELDON of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, let us face it. The Clinton 
administration sure does talk a good game about Medicare, but now there 
is even more evidence that the administration and their liberal 
defenders in Congress are only paying lip service to the seniors they 
claim to champion.
  First, they shot down, for political reasons, their own bipartisan 
Commission on Medicare Reform. They said, you can kiss Medicare reform 
goodbye in this Congress because the Democrats need to make it a 
political issue in the 2000 election. After all, what would an election 
be without Democrats scaring seniors with demagoguery about Medicare? 
Mr. Speaker, do not take my word for it. Just ask the distinguished 
gentleman from Louisiana in the other body about the Medicare 
Commission and why the White House will not even look at it.
  Now we learn that the administration is shortchanging seniors to the 
tune of $20 billion in this year alone from the Medicare program. Hard 
to believe? Well, ask the hospitals and the seniors if it is true or 
not.
  This administration is spending $20 billion less than authorized by 
law. Our seniors deserve better.

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