H 5696 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 8, 1995

Ms. VELA ́ ZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise

to take strong exception to the Republicans’ proposed massive Medicare

cuts.

These cuts will force senior citizens

in my district and around the country

to pay $3,500 over 7 years. Many seniors

will have to make hard choices between food on their table or the medical attention that they desperately

need to survive.

Slashing Medicare will not only hurt

seniors, it will hurt all Americans.

Medicare cuts will hurt many hospitals

that rely heavily upon Medicare reimbursement.

Republicans argue that these cuts

are necessary to save the system. However, the very same Republican budget

that cuts Medicare contains a $288 billion tax giveaway for the most affluent

Americans.

Senior citizens have worked hard and

contributed all their lives to this country. They deserve affordable health

care. Let us end these shameless cuts

and consider real health care reform.

REPUBLICANS FIGHTING FOR

fSENIORS

(Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania asked and

was given permission to address the

House for 1 minute and to revise and

extend his remarks.)

Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the fact is that the Republicans

have in fact looked at the problem and

seen that the Medicare trust fund will

go out of business by 2002. We will have

no Medicare. But under our proposal,

there is an increase from $4,700 to $6,300

for the Medicare recipients.

This is not a cut. Only in Washington, DC can an increase be a cut.

Working in a bipartisan fashion, we

want to make sure our seniors are protected.

Not only are we going to protect

Medicare but we are making sure that

Social Security is off the table. More

importantly, we just recently rolled

back the 1993 increase in Social Security taxes and we allow seniors under

70 years old not to be capped at $11,280

for income but be able to make up to

$30,000 a year over the next 5 years

without deductions from Social Security.

We are fighting for senior citizens.

We ask that everyone join together and

work with us so that we can make sure

that Medicare is preserved, protected,

and improved.

CALL FOR AN OUTSIDE COUNSEL

IN SPEAKER’S ETHICS CASE

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

minute.)

Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, the Speaker

of our House is an intelligent person.

He is a student of history. He has been

a professor of history and indeed he has

helped write a lot of recent history. He

knows well the historical precedent to

avoid even the semblance of conflict or

impropriety.

Now the House and the House Ethics

Committee faces an important question on ethical violations—

Questions concerning the activities

of GOPAC under the control of the

Speaker; questions concerning possible

conflicts of interest with a book deal

and a publisher who might have involvement and interest before this

body.

Despite promises that the Ethics

Committee would approve any signing

of a book deal, the Speaker went ahead

and signed it, anyway, and then received a letter from the Ethics Committee saying you should not make

any assumptions about our signing or

approving that conduct.

In previous high-profile cases, 22 out

of 46 since 1968, an outside counsel has

been appointed including for the most

recent Speaker under investigation,

Speaker Wright. Today the Ethics

Committee is deadlocked on partisan

lines.

Historical precedent is clear here—

avoid even the semblance of a conflict.

I would urge the appointment of an

outside counsel.

THE ANSWER IS NO

f(Mr. MCINNIS asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute.)

Mr. MCINNIS. Mr. Speaker, on June

4, 1992, on ‘‘Larry King Live,’’ thencandidate Bill Clinton said, ‘‘I will

present a 5-year plan to balance the

budget.’’

About 3 weeks ago, President Clinton

said that he would balance the budget

within 10 years. What do we have

today? We have got nothing. It is 3

years later from the original promise

and the American people are still waiting to hear from this President on a

balanced budget.

Two nights ago on ‘‘Larry King

Live,’’ the President once again artfully dodged Larry King’s question

about the lack of any attempt by the

administration to balance this budget.

We have got to balance the budget in

this country. We have a huge problem

in this country that is accumulating at

a rate of $33 million an hour.

What does our President do? He goes

out and vetoes the first serious attempt in a long time to cut spending.

Does he have an alternative? The answer is no.

Can he balance the budget in 5 years?

The answer is no.

Can he balance the budget in 10

years? The answer is no.

Is he even going to try? The answer is

no.

Mr. Speaker, it is up to us, the Republicans in the U.S. Congress, to balance this budget.

EDUCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL

PROGRAMS BRIGHTEN WITH

PRESIDENT’S VETO OF RESCISSIONS BILL

(Mrs. MALONEY asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1

minute.)

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise

this morning to commend President

Clinton for vetoing a bill that took

food out of the mouths of children,

heat out of the homes of the elderly,

and trees out of national forests.

The bill cut student loans and summer jobs for young Americans trying

to do something with their lives. It

used money for those programs to provide timber barons with massive Government subsidies. This is a clear-cut

case of clearcutting.

The new majority has taken a chain

saw to education funding and to our

disappearing natural resources. But the

President’s pen was mightier than the

chain saw.

His first veto was a defining one. He

stuck up for education and the environment.

The Republicans stuck up for corporate welfare and environmental destruction.

Mr. Speaker, the new majority has

passed some awful legislation. I hope

the President’s veto pen has plenty of

ink.

(Mr. HOKE asked and was given perTHE TRUTH

fmission to address the House for 1

minute.)

Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, one after another after another of our liberal colleagues take to the well to carp, to

moan, to deceive and to distort. * * * They can say the most outlandish things with such ease, you

would swear that it was Mephistopheles himself that was up there speaking.

For instance, they say that Republicans are drastically cutting Medicare.

It is not true and they know it. Far

from cutting Medicare, Republicans

are strengthening the program and saving it from certain bankruptcy as said

so by the trustees of the program itself. * * *

It is there. Why are my——

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr.

Speaker, I would ask that the gentleman’s words be taken down. Twice during this time, he called the Members of

Congress liars and I would like to have

those words taken down or an apology

issued.

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr.

LATOURETTE). The gentleman will suspend and the Clerk will report the

words.

PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRIES

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, I have a

parliamentary inquiry.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will state it.

Mr. LINDER. Mr. Speaker, if the appropriate rule with respect to accusations of untruths arise, does it require