[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8669]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  INSTRUCTION TO CONFEREES ON MEDICAID

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                       HON. LYNN A. WESTMORELAND

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 4, 2005

  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, during my absence for the birth of my 
granddaughter, Kate, the House considered a motion to instruct the 
conferees on the budget resolution, H. Con. Res. 95.
  On rollcall vote No. 134, I would have been proud to join my 
colleagues from Georgia, led by Mr. Deal of Georgia, in opposing the 
motion to instruct. One thing I have learned about Washington during my 
time here so far is that a ``cut'' is actually not a cut at all--it is 
merely a reduction in the rate of growth. When we have so many programs 
driven by formulas that continue to grow year after year, the way to 
deal with the problem is not by denying any problem exists, but by 
taking steps to deal with the underlying issues that created the 
problem.
  The House Leadership has taken admirable steps to deal with the 
problems of continued growth in mandatory spending, and I am thrilled 
that we are moving forward with reductions in mandatory program 
spending. These are not cuts, but are commonsense steps to manage the 
people's resources wisely.

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