H 4554 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE May 9, 1995

care reform. Now we have to make up

for a lost opportunity. And now seniors

will bear the burden and pay the price

for gridlock. Let us agree that the first

rule of reform will be the same as it is

in medicine: First, do no harm.

Let us agree to put partisan interests

aside and put seniors first.

Let us agree that while good health

care requires choice, managed care,

when it is just managed profit, is

wrong.

That prevention, home care, prescription medicine is quality health care for

high quality lives.

Finally, let us pledge that we will

not destroy Medicare in our effort to

reform Medicare.

REPUBLICANS TACKLE FINANCIAL

PROBLEMS, SEEK A BALANCED

fBUDGET

(Mr. CHABOT asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute.)

Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, over the

last 4 months the liberal Democrats in

Congress have been feeding the public a

steady diet of class warfare rhetoric.

Somehow they think that the budget

problems we face will magically disappear if the phrase tax cut for the rich

is repeated over and over.

This strategy exposes the fact that

liberal Democrats have a lack of conviction in solving the Nation’s problems. They offer no leadership and they

seek to divide America along class

lines.

Since the start of the 104th Congress,

Republicans have offered a vision of

America that can solve its problems

and we proved that we can keep our

promises.

Republicans here in the House are

convinced that we must balance the

budget. But balancing the budget is not

just about money it is about our children’s future. For too long now, the

Federal Government has operated in

the red. The resulting debt is a threat

to America’s future generations that

must be dealt with.

So while Democrats offer class division and dance around the tough issues, Republicans offer a return to a

balanced budget.

REPUBLICANS CONSIDERING

CUTTING MEDICARE

f(Mr. HILLIARD asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, today

the Republicans in Congress are considering proposals which will cut Medicare funding by billions of dollars,

causing large reductions in Medicare

services which will have a devastating

effect on our senior citizens. We cannot

allow this to occur. Our seniors are already on fixed incomes, with many of

them having a tough time making ends

meet from month to month. How can

the Republicans in the light of day

even contemplate slashing our senior

citizens at a time like this, when they

deserve more and more health care?

Mr. President and Mr. Speaker, one

of the speakers mentioned a minute

ago that the President did not participate, that he is AWOL in the Medicare

debate. I would like to say that the

President is not AWOL, there is no

need today to deal with the Medicare

crisis. The Medicare crisis is only the

political crisis that the Republicans

have started this date.

USING COMMON SENSE TO FIX

THE BUDGET

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

minute.)

Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, if an average American were to pile up huge

debts and engage in reckless financial

behavior, that person would eventually

be held accountable, either by the law

or by his creditors.

But here in Washington, somehow,

the reverse is true. The Federal Government has become immune to accountability. They have racked-up trillions in debt and yet continue their irresponsible spending. Unfortunately

there is a price for all this irresponsibility. That price will be shouldered

by average Americans who are not responsible for the failed policies of the

past.

If we do nothing to remedy the outof-control spending here in Washington, our children will suffer a very dim

future. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that spending more

than you earn is not the wisest thing—

especially in the long run. And, it does

not take a wizard to fix the budget. All

it takes is commonsense, determination, honesty, and a realization that we

simply cannot continue with the old

Washington way of doing things.

REPUBLICAN DOUBLESPEAK ON

MEDICARE CUTS

f(Mr. MCDERMOTT asked and was

given permission to address the House

for 1 minute and to revise and extend

his remarks.)

Mr. MCDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I

rise today to warn my colleagues to beware of Republican doublespeak on

Medicare cuts.

The greatest doublespeak is that Republicans will reform Medicare to give

seniors more choices by giving them

vouchers to buy private insurance.

What they do not say is that the

vouchers will not be worth enough to

enable them to buy an insurance policy

that gives them the choices they have

today.

They do not say that the value of the

vouchers will force seniors into the

lowest cost and most restrictive

HMO’s.

They do not say that the value of the

voucher is going to be ratcheted down

every year to become worth less and

less until seniors are saddled with virtually all the costs of their health care.

They do not say that the vouchers

will toss seniors to swim alone in the

perilous and confusing currents of the

private insurance market—the same

market that has reduced their children’s choices.

Vouchers are not more choice. They

spell the end of Medicare coverage that

seniors—and their families—rely on.

(Mr. GOSS asked and was given perFIXING MEDICARE

fmission to address the House for 1

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, it takes guts

to do what is right instead of just

doing what is popular. President Clinton’s own Medicare Board of Trustees,

which includes Cabinet Secretaries

Donna Shalala, Robert Rubin, and Robert Reich, believe that under current

law, Medicare will be bankrupt by the

year 2002, or possibly even earlier.

These are the President’s people telling

us. Doing nothing is disaster; doing

nothing is a formula for bankruptcy.

But what solutions have the Clinton

Democrats proposed to correct this

problem? None. I hear rhetoric today,

but I do not hear solutions.

Mr. Speaker, the Clinton Democrats

are showing a willingness to let the

system collapse by maintaining the

status quo. On the other hand, the Republican majority will rise to the challenge of trying to show some guts and

offer some real solutions to preserve,

to protect and to improve Medicare.

The Republican majority is committed

to honor our contract with older Americans. I know I am one, and I represent

a lot of others.

Mr. Speaker, it is real simple. The

program is going broke, and we are

going to fix it because we care about

senior citizens. We want them to have

good quality, affordable health care options, and we know doing nothing is

disaster, so we are going to do something.

(Mr. BROWN of Ohio asked and was

HOW NOT TO CUT THE BUDGET

fgiven permission to address the House

for 1 minute.)

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker,

first there was school lunches. Republicans voted to cut school lunches to

pay for tax cuts for American’s

wealthiest citizens. Then Republicans

proposed cuts in student loans to pay

for tax cuts for the wealthiest special

interests. Now Republicans want to cut

Medicare services. They want to increase premiums, and copayments and

deductibles.

Mr. Speaker, I am a deficit hawk. I

want to balance the budget. But we

cannot balance the budget, we should

not balance the budget, by cutting

taxes for the rich, by building star

wars, and increasing military spending,