John Dingell

Mr. DINGELL

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Rush].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. Kaptur]. (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Arkansas [Mrs. Lincoln]. (Mrs. LINCOLN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, could we have a recapitulation of the time?

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas [Mr. Doggett].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Deutsch].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Rush].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Rahall]. (Mr. RAHALL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California [Ms. Eshoo].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Brown].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Brown].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Mexico [Mr. Richardson]. (Mr. RICHARDSON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Florida [Mr. Deutsch].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 15 seconds. Mr. Chairman, I love my dear friend from Virginia, but I notice he did nothing when a bunch of people came in and dumped bags of mail from dead men, from people who were not supporting the legislation in question, and some of which were addressed ``contributor.'' Our Republican colleagues have a great sensitivity about the senior citizens, but none whatsoever about rascality by high-paid lobbyists.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from Oregon [Ms. Furse].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Klink].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Oregon [Mr. Wyden]. (Mr. WYDEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone], chairman of the Democratic Health Care Task Force.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 90 seconds to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Stupak].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California [Mr. Waxman]. (Mr. WAXMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Stupak].

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 2 minutes. Thirty years ago this year I had the privilege of sitting in the Chair and presiding over the House when we passed Medicare into law. This is the gavel I used. Before that time better than half of Americans had no health insurance if they were senior citizens. Today, 99\1/2\ percent of American senior citizens are covered by health insurance. What is going to happen today is that this body, under a gag rule, is going to vote to cut the benefits of senior citizens, to reduce their choice of doctors, to cut money for fraud enforcement, and to weaken the laws against fraud. And the Justice Department and the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services say so. It is going to force people into HMO's. We will close hospitals today, especially rural hospitals. Mr. Chairman, this is because the House is preparing to honor a Republican commitment to cut $245 billion in taxes for the rich and to cut Medicare $270 billion. Without that cut of $270 billion in Medicare, the tax cut is not possible. [[Page H 10330]] This bill will reduce protection for nursing home patients. It was crafted by an abundance of sneaky, unreported, backroom deals. The bill is over 300 pages long. It has grown like fungus, and each of those growths represents a significant benefit to special interests. Last night the bill was changed after the House adjourned. Mr. Chairman, no one knows what is in this bill because no hearings have been held upon it. I urge my colleagues to reject the bill. Mr. Chairman, I include for the Record my full statement. Mr. Chairman, many years ago, a clever songwriter offered advice this House would do well to heed: ``Fools rush in where wise men fear to go.'' The process by which we have reached this point is foolish in every sense. Without a single hearing devoted to the contents of this bill, Republicans ask America's seniors to stand like deer in the headlights, transfixed by the notion of fixing the Medicare program. They expect senior citizens to accept without question or complaint the absurd declaration that unless we destroy the Medicare program now, it will destroy itself. Nothing could be further from the truth. I say to my Republican colleagues that it's this simple: Drop your tax cut for the rich, and none of these Medicare cuts will be necessary. This debate occurs, appropriately, in October, the month of Halloween. This is the time for walking around in costumes and masks. This Medicare bill has been costumed by the Republicans in the cloak of Medicare preservation. But after today's trick or treat is over, after the mask comes off, Medicare beneficiaries will understand that the only reason the Republicans have to cut $270 billion from the Medicare program is to provide for a tax break for their rich friends who don't need it. This Republican bill will cost seniors more money. It will reduce their choice of doctors. It will jeopardize the quality of the health care system. It will compound, not correct, the problems waste, fraud, and abuse. And if this bill passes, my friends, the AMA's members will need that tax cut to shelter all their additional income from the extra money stuck in this bill for them in some backroom deal for which they sold their support. This is the same AMA, I remind the seniors out there, that opposed the creation of Medicare in the first place. Socialized medicine, they called it. But now that they have their snouts in the public trough, they just want more and more and more. For seniors, that means less and less and less. Mr. Chairman, the American people will hear more throughout the day about the defects in this legislation. I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill. It took 30 years for us to create and build the Medicare system; let's not take just a few hours to destroy it.

Mr. DINGELL

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, this is a bad rule and a bad bill. I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question, to defeat the rule and defeat the bill. The process here has been an abomination. It has been an insult to the American people. There have been no hearings on this bill. There have been constant changes in its language. There have been constant backroom deals cut to benefit special interests. Committee amendments have been disappearing from the final text, and now a gag rule is before us permitting only one amendment. Republicans say we need this bill to save Medicare. Do not believe it. There is only one reason that this bill is required, and that is to provide tax cuts for the rich, financed at the expense of senior citizens and Medicare recipients. The committee never had a minute's hearings on this legislation. No committee did. The bill has undergone constant changes. We have Democratic substitutes here which will not have an opportunity to be considered. There are proposals in this bill that have been sneaked in in the dark of night, and no Member knows what they might contain. I urge rejection of this gag rule. parliamentary inquiry