[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9304]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    REPUBLICANS ARE HIDING THE TRUTH ABOUT MEDICARE FROM THE PUBLIC

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, before I came to Congress, I was a 
newspaper editor in Louisville, Kentucky. And as an editor, my job was 
to make sure that our stories revealed the truth and made things easier 
to understand for our readers. Right now, the Republican majority in 
Congress is editing to obscure the truth and to hide the facts from the 
American people.
  Ever since a Republican candidate in New York lost a special election 
in a heavily Republican district because she supported the reckless GOP 
plan to end Medicare, the majority in this body has been petrified 
about what it might mean for their political careers if the American 
people actually found out the truth, and they are doing everything they 
can to hide the truth.
  The Republican-controlled Franking Commission--which controls content 
of mailings from congressional offices--is now dictating that any 
reference to the end of Medicare be cut out from correspondence. 
Whenever the word ``end'' is used, they say we have to use the word 
``change.'' They won't let the truth be told. But the truth is, if you 
have eliminated something, you haven't changed it. You can't change 
something that has been killed. That's what the American people need to 
know. That's what the Republican majority is trying to hide, but they 
will not deceive the American people.

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