H 4514 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE May 3, 1995

I cannot judge whether this goal will

be met.

The American people deserve to

know the details of a plan and we have

the responsibility to ensure that they

are included in this debate.

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE

CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

f(Mrs. SEASTRAND asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

her remarks.)

Mrs. SEASTRAND. Mr. Speaker, during the last 3 weeks, I held 11 town

meetings, 3 senior citizen conferences,

and a very successful agriculture conference. I always ask those in attendance to tell me what they were hearing

about the new 104th Congress.

Here is one letter I received last

week:

DEAR ANDREA: You asked the question,

‘‘What are you hearing?’’

Our son said, ‘‘The Republicans have a

chance to do something, but they will probably drop the ball.’’ A 17-year-old cynic. Now

he says, ‘‘They did it. The Republicans did

it.’’

My cousin in Santa Barbara said her husband is so excited she was not able to tear

him away from the TV coverage for the first

100 days.

In general, people say, ‘‘We can depend on

the freshmen in the Congress to stand together and do what they said they could do.’’

Congratulations on the Contract With America. Thank you for your very hard work.

Sincerely,

MARY KAY DANA.

MORE THAN THEY CAN DELIVER

N

REPUBLICANS HAVE PROMISED

IPOMO, CA.

f(Mr. MILLER of California asked and

was given permission to address the

House for 1 minute and to revise and

extend his remarks.)

Mr. MILLER of California. Mr.

Speaker, Members of the House, the

senior citizens of this country should

be deeply concerned about the rumblings that they hear on the Republican side of the aisle.

The Republicans have now come to

face the fact that they cannot give tax

cuts to the wealthy, balance the budget, and preserve Medicare, so now they

are devising a plan by which they can

make the cuts in Medicare to provide

for the tax cuts for the wealthy.

I think we have to ask ourselves, is

this really what America expected at

the time of election, that we would

pass on massive tax cuts to the

wealthiest people in this country and

we would do it at the expense of the

Medicare plan, the health safety net

for millions of seniors who have nowhere other to turn for health care in

this country? I am saying to the senior

citizens of this country, keep your eyes

open and your ears tuned to the news

waves because what the Republicans

have in store is nothing but bad for the

Medicare system of this country.

If they do not do that, what they

have in store is to add another $150 billion in budget cuts to $1 out of every $3

that the Federal Government now

spends, so they have run up against the

cruel facts that they have promised

more than they can deliver, and it

looks like the beneficiaries of that will

be the wealthy of the Nation, and the

victims will be the health care of the

senior citizens.

THE 175TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRIfCULTURE

(Mr. ROBERTS asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. Speaker, doubtlessly, we will return in just a moment

to the 1-minute handgrenades back and

forth. But first this happy birthday

greeting.

My colleagues, as chairman of the

House Committee on Agriculture, we

are 175 years old as of today. As we

begin our work on the 1995 farm bill, it

is appropriate for us to take a brief moment to reflect on the long and distinguished story and history of the committee.

April 29, 1820, Congressman Lewis

Williams of North Carolina, introduced

a resolution to create a Committee on

Agriculture in the House of Representatives. Since that time, we have remained true to the original purpose of

the committee that was stated by Congressman Williams, to guard and protect the great and leading substantial

interests in this country.

Hey, the House Ag Committee over

the break, 16 hearings, 5,000 farmers in

attendance, over 600 witnesses. When

we are 200, I can assure you we will

continue to do our work, to make sure

we have the best quality food at the

lowest price in the history of the

world.

Happy birthday, House Ag Committee.

(Mrs. SCHROEDER asked and was

WHERE IS THE BUDGET?

fgiven permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

her remarks.)

Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker,

well, the tax cuts got passed, the circus

came to the Hill, and, guess what, we

still do not have a budget.

We do not have any budget because

now they have got to do the tough

part, the spending part, and there is

nothing really there they can cut except Medicare. They do not want to cut

Medicare.

You know, we have tried last year,

for the last 2 years, with the President,

to reform the whole health care system. Boy, we did not get any help on

that side.

They promised they could do this.

This was going to be so easy. Now you

hear everybody, saying, ‘‘Hey, where is

the President, where is the President?

He ought to do this.’’

Well, he was here last time. He was

trying to do it. We were trying to do it

with him. We got no help there.

Let us get this budget out. Let us see

what we are going to do to get this

thing balanced, and let us stop seeing

the whining for help from the White

House.

CONTINUING TO WORK FOR THE

AMERICAN PEOPLE

f(Mr. JONES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1

minute.)

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, while home

during the 3-week recess, I traveled 17

of 21 days, visited 15 of 19 counties that

I have the privilege to represent, appeared on several radio talk shows, and

held numerous town meetings.

Overall, people are optimistic about

the direction the new Congress is

going. People believe Congress is starting to represent the working man and

woman and passing commonsense legislation. I sincerely believe we are in the

process of rebuilding the public’s trust

in Congress which was lost after previous Congresses neglected to listen to

the people.

In the next few months we will all

have to make difficult choices. But we,

as elected officials, must continue to

use common sense when drafting, discussing, and voting on legislation. We

must continue to work for the American people.

Ultimately, we need to stay focused

to the commitment we made with the

American people—to again make

America a great country.

LEADERSHIP IS TOUGH

f(Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked

and was given permission to address

the House and to revise and extend his

remarks.)

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr.

Speaker, leadership is tough. During

the welfare reform, the Republican majority pulled seniors out of that legislation and I agreed with that decision.

And now it appears Medicare is off the

table to pay for tax cuts and budget reduction.

The Republican majority, which is

attempting to balance the budget by

the year 2002, plan to cut $400 billion

out of Medicare. The Republican majority is realizing what President Clinton, and a number of other Democrats,

and I said last year, when we were first

elected, that to have a balanced budget

we must control health care costs.

The Republican majority has promised not to cut Social Security or the

military budget, and interest on the

national debt, which is 20 percent of

our budget, has to be paid.

Guess what? Medicare is 25 percent of

everything left. And now they have

promised not to tamper with that.

In 1993, the Democrats made Medicare solvent for 3 more years, without