Date: 1995-10-18
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let me answer my colleagues concern about the right to choose. Seniors have the best right to choose today. They can choose whatever doctor and hospital they want to. But under the plan thatis going to pass tomorrow they will not have that right because they will be priced out of the market. The cuts we have talked about. They discussed the cuts. Well. it is a cut because. if we have a growing senior population by the year 2002. and they are saying. they do not grow as fast with the improvements in that plan. then we are going to diminish the ability of seniors to be able to have access to health care. That is what they cannot explain. Let us get down to the basics though. We will vote on a $270 billion slowing of the growth for the year 2002 to pay for a $245 billion tax cut. I have heard this for months that we paid for that in the spring. We have not paid for anything since the spring. There has not been one appropriations bill passed here. The one that passed was vetoed by the President. They are going to use $245 billion over the next 7 years to balance off the cuts in Medicare growth. because there are seniors who are going to grow into it. My dad is 80 years old. He is the growth in Medicare because he is going to need it next year. I hope he needs it in 2002. But they are not planning for it because they want to pay for a tax cut now to pay for political promises. On Monday I visited a senior citizens center in Jacinto City. TX. just outside of Houston. I was presented over 5.000 petitions that I left here this morning on the House floor from senior citizens. working families across my district. This signed their names because they are very concerned about the broad and extreme cuts that the Republicans are talking about that we are going to vote on tomorrow. The cuts. $270 billion. in it only fixes Medicare to the year 2006. Up until last week they were saying they wanted to fix it to the next election. Well. our next election is long before 2006. They want to cut $270 billion when we only need $89 billion to fix it to the same year. Their numbers do not add up. That is their problem. They do not add up to the year 2002 because they are taking $245 billion as a tax cut. In the 30 years that we have had Medicare. it was a Democratic Congress overcoming Republican opposition to enact Medicare. It has been saved eight times in the past 30 years. and hopefully we will save it again for the senior citizens. that is. until tomorrow. when we vote on the Republican Medicare reform proposal. That is a surrender of the commitment that our government made with senior citizens in 1965. The majority feels it is so important to fulfill their campaign promise of a tax cut that busts our budget. They talk about they want a balanced budget. I want one. too. but let us get our financial house in order before we worry about $245 billion in tax cuts and throwing families back to the Dark Ages where seniors have to decide whether they want to pay for rent. utilities. food. or health care. The worst part of their bill is that. rather than the fact that the Medicare is being cut $270 billion. again. it is to pay for that $245 billion tax cut. That is the outrage that people are saying. That is why they wanted to run this through with only one hearing in the House and arresting seniors who came over to testify. This plan had a lot less than the Presidents health care plan that most of the other side opposed. So I would hope that we would. deal with it. Tonight there is a vigil out on our Capitol steps by seniors who are raising their voice in opposition. I would hope that 30 years from now. when we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Medicare. it will be because we voted this down tomorrow. If we do not vote it down. then the President will veto it. and next year the voters in our country will recognize who is really concerned about health care for seniors. Mr. Speaker. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio. . from Cleveland. who is now the American League champion.