H 5382 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE May 23, 1995

school, I took out 10,00 dollars’ worth

of loans while I was a medical student.

I was very pleasantly surprised to

discover that when I finished medical

school and when I finished my internship and residency, that I still only

owed $10,000, that the interest of 7 percent per year had been picked up by

the U.S. taxpayer. Indeed, I was very

happy to find that out because once I

got out of medical school and my internship and residency, I got myself a

pretty good job and $10,000 was fairly

easy to pay off.

That, indeed, is the essence of the

problem with the Democrat proposal of

continuing the in-school interest subsidy.

Let us just say, if I had daughters,

they were twins. And one wanted to go

to school to become a hairdresser and

it took her 1 year. And she wanted to

take out a $5,000 loan to do that. And

then I had another daughter who wanted to go through 4 years of college and

3 years of law school and wanted to

borrow $5,000 a year to do that. Well,

guess what? My daughter who went to

school to be a hairdresser would be

paying through her taxes the in-school

interest subsidy on my other daughter

who wants to accumulate a $35,000 loan

and then get out and become a wealthy

attorney.

We, Republicans, are making a proposal that these students pay that inschool interest subsidy in the form of

added principal when they graduate.

This may sound like an onerous, terrible burden to place on our college

students and our professional career

students when they get out of law

school or medical school, but the truth

is, Mr. Speaker, that the average increase in the size of that student loan

will roughly be equivalent to their

cable bill. It will be about $27 a month,

the average student will have to pay in

extra costs on their student loan, not

exactly what I would consider to be an

onerous burden to place on a student

who has a great likelihood of making a

fairly good income, a substantially better income than the average person

who goes out there and works when

they get out of high school.

Mr. Speaker, this proposal of the Republicans is a fair proposal, but probably more importantly, one of the best

reasons why this is a good proposal is

we do not have the money to pay for

this. We have to borrow the money to

pay those interest payments for those

college students. Indeed, these college

students, when they get out and those

who have had their student loan interest paid, it has been paid in the form of

added Federal debt. Those students,

when they get out of college, will have

more debt to pay off in the form of an

added debt burden.

Mr. Speaker, our proposal, the Republican proposal, is a logical proposal.

It is a fair proposal. And, indeed, it is

a proposal that asks the people who are

most able to pay to pick up the tab.

But we are going to hear a lot of rhetoric about this being something that is

bad and evil, but, Mr. Speaker, it is

fair. It is logical. It makes sense. It is

something that is badly needed. And I

support the elimination of the inschool interest subsidy.

I ask that all of my colleagues on

both sides of the aisle do so so that we

can help balance the budget and we can

help create a better future for our children and our grandchildren.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under

SHARING AND CARING HANDS

fthe Speaker’s announced policy of May

12, 1995, the gentleman from Minnesota

[Mr. RAMSTAD] is recognized during

morning business for 5 minutes.

Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I attended a truly memorable

event in Minnesota. It was the dedication of Mary’s Place. And at that dedication, I saw love and compassion up

close. Mary’s Place is a transitional

housing facility built through the vision and the persistence of Mary Jo

Copeland, Minnesota’s Mother Teresa.

Mary’s Place is a shining example of

how we can use nongovernmental private solutions to solve the problems

facing our country.

This was a $7.2 million transitional

shelter, 200 beds for homeless people,

$7.2 million all raised through private

businesses, individuals, and churches,

not one penny of government money.

Mr. Speaker, last month I saw firsthand why Mary Jo Copeland is Minnesota’s Mother Teresa. I was touring

the new facility before it was open, and

I watched Mary Joe interrupt that tour

to go across the street to greet a homeless family, a young mother and her

three little children. And that family

was forced to leave their home after

her husband beat her and to watch

Mary Joe hug those bewildered, broken

children brought tears to my eyes. Everyone who has been to Sharing and

Caring Hands, all of the volunteers,

every one who goes there daily to assist other people have seen that same

kind of love and compassion firsthand.

Yesterday we celebrated several

things, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned,

we dedicated the $7.2 million facility.

We also celebrated 10 years of love and

compassion and concern like that I just

explained.

Let me tell you a little bit about

Sharing and Caring Hands, because I

believe we need to replicate this wonderful organization throughout our

great country. This organization, Sharing and Caring Hands, was founded in

1985 as a safety net organization to assist those who are not getting help

from the welfare system. Each and

every month, Mr. Speaker, 12,000 people, 12,000 homeless, hurting people are

assisted through a food shelf, meals,

clothing, showers, dental care, medical

help, eye glasses, transportation, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and

school tutoring for children. These

services are all provided by hundreds of

volunteers and private contributions,

again, not one penny of taxpayer

money.

Over $150,000, therefore, each month,

all of the funds raised by Sharing and

Caring Hands, goes directly to the recipients. Nobody take a salary. Mary

Jo works 14 or 15 hours each and every

day. No salary, strictly volunteer

work. As Mary Jo puts it, a labor of

love.

Mr. Speaker, we need to focus national attention on this model organization. Mary Jo Copeland and her volunteers at Sharing and Caring Hands

have taught and are teaching America

a lot about caring and about sharing,

about true compassion.

Mr. Speaker, I believe this project

should serve as a model and a beacon of

hope, a beacon for those of us who are

dedicated to the principle that each of

us can make a difference in the lives of

other people through volunteerism and

commitment. As we all know, there

has been much focus here in Congress

about ways to strengthen the family.

Everyone agrees that the breakdown of

families has provided a whole new

range of social problems.

What Mary Jo Copeland and everyone

at Sharing and Caring Hands have

done, Mr. Speaker, is to create a kind

of sharing, caring, compassionate, and

concerned family. Sharing and Caring

Hands is truly that for so many people.

It is a very special family that is taking in new brothers and sisters each

and every day. Yesterday we dedicated

a new family home, Mary’s Place, a

place where people know they can find

comfort, they can find love. They can

find a safe haven. They can find support that you would find that we are

able to find in the majority of American families. So while the debate

rages here in Congress on how best to

provide the resources necessary for

people to become more self-sufficient,

Sharing and Caring Hands is already

here showing us how, without bureaucratic strings and without taxpayer

dollars, people can make a real difference in the lives of those less fortunate, in the lives of people who are

hurting.

Now, Mr. Speaker, we need to replicate Sharing and Caring Hands

throughout the United States. Mary Jo

Copeland’s vision can make a difference in your communities and

States just like Sharing and Caring

Hands is making a real difference in

the lives of real people in the twin

cities of Minnesota.

Mr. Speaker, I take my hat off to

Mary Jo Copeland and all of her volunteers for what they are doing in Minnesota. We are very, very proud of

them and grateful for them.

fMEDICARE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under

the Speaker’s announced policy of May

12, 1995, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. FOX] is recognized during

morning business for 5 minutes.
May 23, 1995 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H 5383

Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address my colleagues on some issues

that I think are very important to all

Americans. First, I think we need to

look at what has happened to try to

help our senior citizens across the

United States.

First, this 104th Congress, a very sensitive and caring, compassionate Congress, has already rolled back the Clinton tax on Social Security which had

been established 2 years ago. We have

also raised the earnings limits for seniors who are under 70 from $11,280 to

$30,000 over the next 5 years. We have

also passed legislation calling for a $500

elder care tax credit, also a tax credit

for the purchase of long-term care

health insurance.

Now comes the issue of Medicare. We

want to make sure in this Congress

that we preserve, protect, and improve

Medicare in this United States. We

have heard from the trustees, a bipartisan group with three appointees from

the Clinton administration, that in

fact if we do nothing to help Medicare

and let it stay the way it is, it will go

bankrupt by the year 2002. A responsible House and Senate has to move

forward to make sure we preserve, protect, and improve Medicare. Many of us

are starting what we call Medicare

preservation task forces. I just started

one in my district in Montgomery

County, PA. We have senior citizens

and health care professionals and consumers of Medicare meeting for the

purpose of discussing how we can make

sure we in fact have Medicare become

strong and remain vital.

The Republican proposal calls for the

current figure of $4,700 to grow to $6,300

by the year 2002. That is a 45-percent

increase. But we also need to make

some other changes in the system to

make sure it is in fact remaining

strong. There is estimated as much as

$44 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in

the current Medicare and Medicaid systems. We need to make sure that the

inspector general and other appropriate officials and, in Congress, oversight committees are making the

changes so that that amount of waste

is eliminated from Medicare and direct

services do go to the people.

One of the other options we will be

discussing is managed care and whether or not there is a more efficient and

appropriate way to deliver the health

care for those who may want that option while still retaining the fee-forservice option for health care for those

on Medicare.

We need to have House and Senate

Republicans and Democrats working

together on a solution. We have seen

that from the Clinton administration

they have been AWOL, absent without

leadership. There has been no proposal

on how to save Medicare, when we

know from the trustees and from the

bipartisan task force that in fact Medicare needs to have appropriate changes

made in the system to improve it, to

ensure that it is vital, and to make

sure that it is financially stable.

I am looking forward to working

across the aisle with fellow Members of

the House to find the ways and means

to control the costs, to eliminate bureaucracy, and to make sure we have

more direct services to our senior citizens who deserve the best health care

possible under our Medicare system

and to make sure that in fact we work

together for a solution before the year

2002 so that none of those senior citizens who want to have a Medicare Program that is there will miss the opportunity.

We will work together to help senior

citizens to help improve Medicare, and

to keep Social Security off the table

because that is a program that has

been vested by our seniors. It is a paidin pension program. It is higher than

an entitlement. It is a paid-in pension

program that people deserve to have

there for them, but we want to make

sure that Medicare is strong and vital

for them.

I look forward to working with Members of the House on both sides of the

aisle.

fRECESS

The SPEAKER pro tempore. There

being no further requests for morning

business, pursuant to clause 12, rule I,

the House will stand in recess until 12

noon.

Accordingly (at 11 o’clock and 10

minutes a.m.), the House stood in recess until 12 noon.

fb 1200

AFTER RECESS

The recess having expired, the House

was called to order by the Speaker pro

tempore [Mr. G

fILMAN] at 12 noon.

PRAYER

The Reverend Randall C.K. Day, executive director, the Canterbury Cathedral Trust in America, Washington,

DC, offered the following prayer:

Almighty God, You have given us

this good land:

Make us alert to Your generosity and

ready to do Your will.

Guard our unity as one people; build

our acceptance of human diversity.

Bless our common life with unrelenting compassion, honorable work, sound

learning, and stimulating arts.

Defend our freedoms. Save us from

violence, discord, and every confusion;

from egotism, arrogance, and every

evil way.

Give wisdom, fairness, and integrity

to those to whom we entrust the authority of government.

May there be peace with justice in

our world, and may You be exalted

among all nations.

In our prosperity, fill our hearts with

thankfulness.

In the day of trouble may we always

trust in You.

In Your mercy, O God, hear our prayer. Amend.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The

THE JOURNAL

fChair has examined the Journal of the

last day’s proceedings and announces

to the House his approval thereof.

Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Journal stands approved.

The SPEAKER. Will the gentleman

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ffrom Wisconsin [Mr. OBEY] come forward and lead the House in the Pledge

of Allegiance.

Mr. OBEY led the Pledge of Allegiance as follows:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for

which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

A TRIBUTE TO THE LATE

HONORABLE LES ASPIN

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

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. OBEY. Mr. Speaker, as dean of

the Wisconsin delegation, it is my sad

duty to officially announce to the

House something which most Members

already know, that our friend and

former colleague, Les Aspin, passed

away at 7:55 Sunday night at Georgetown Hospital.

His official biography will note that

he was born July 21, 1938. He received a

bachelor’s degree from Yale University,

his master’s in economics from Oxford

University, and his Ph.D. in economics

from MIT. He served as a staff assistant to U.S. Senator William Proxmire,

and as a staff assistant to Walter Heller, the Chairman of the President’s

Council on Economic Advisers.

He served in the U.S. Army from 1966

to 1968. He taught economics at Marquette University before being elected

to Congress in 1970. He served in Congress for 22 years, until 1992, when

President Clinton appointed his as Secretary of Defense. When he resigned his

congressional seat to become Secretary

of Defense, he was, as Members know,

the chairman of the Committee on

Armed Services, and he was a darned

good one. That is his official biography.

Mr. Speaker, let me say on a more informal note, as a friend, that Wisconsin

has lost one of the most significant and

effective human beings to ever serve

our State, and the United States has

lost one of the most decent and concerned citizens and leaders it has ever

had.

In this time of cynicism about government and about politics and about

politicians, I think it appropriate to

note that Les Aspin literally worked

his heart out to make this a better

country and a safer world. He was totally dedicated, absolutely and totally