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