Jack Kingston

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. We are trying to elevate this debate and I just heard that the Republican Medicare plan is the same as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I really believe you owe my father, a World War II veteran, and most Medicare recipients an apology for such a statement. I am offended by it. I think the veterans of America are offended by that.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Now let me reclaim my time. As the learned gentleman from Miami knows, that they did not stipulate it. Now you guys came up with this $89 million kind of a late hit. I am sure----

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, you know we all elected 435 Members of this body on certain campaign promises and representations, and, you know, some of it is campaign rhetoric and some of it is not, some of it is righteous indignation, and some of it is accurate, some of it is not. But when you get elected, we know you do have to do the hard job of governing, and some of the job is very, very difficult, some of the decisions that you have to make. Now one of the things that we as the new majority were faced with this year was the bankruptcy of Medicare, and that is from the chart right here where the trustees, the Medicare trust fund, said that the plan is going to go bankrupt in 7 years. We got to deal with that. We cannot hide our heads in the sand. Now just think what would happen in a good bipartisan effort if the best ideas of the Democrat Party, the best ideas of the Republican Party, came together and said, By golly, this is--these are our moms and dads. We got to come together and save this. You know it is very difficult to get some things established in this town, or some things passed, when you have a whole group of special interest organizations out on both sides of the aisle convincing constituencies that the sky is falling. If the Republican plan goes through, or if the Democrat plan goes through, send me your $25 check to prevent this horrible thing from happening, and yet, you know, I would think inside this body of the 435 of us would maybe be above that kind of foolishness, that we would say, you know, maybe there is something to be said for what the Democrats are saying, and maybe there is something to be said for what the Republicans are saying, and just maybe we can get our ideas together and do the best for both instead of all this that, oh, you are going to cut, you are going to throw senior citizens out on the street, you are going to do this, you are going to do that. You know, I heard a speaker earlier tonight say we voted against the Clinton plan and we should not have voted for it. It added countless new bureaucracies and agencies in the health care system that clearly had rationing, and there were not choices of physicians. You know here is a plan that allows choice of physicians. Now you know the Washington Post, which as my Democrat colleagues would say certainly is not exactly the Republican, you know, GOPAC brochure; you know what do they say about the Republican plan? They are saying that they are being responsible, this is credible, it is innovative, it addresses a genuine problem. That is what the Republican plan says. Now you know on you folks it says what the Democrats do and it is scare tactics, demagogery, and it is wrong. [[Page H 10293]] Now I do not believe that every member of the Democrat Party is wrong and doing scare tactics, but I would say there is a good number of you doing that, and it is kind of--I will be glad to yield to my friend from Miami who is above this and I hope would not be described by the Washington Post.

Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time back, I am on this poster now, and, when we get to your plan, I will give you that poster----

Mr. KINGSTON. One second.

Mr. KINGSTON. Eighty-nine billion. I am sure they would hold it up and say what are we going to do? You know we got to get off the book deal on Gingrich, come up with a plan this year. Well, you know, here is a program for us. We are going to go ahead and jump on Medicare. You know, to my friend, the distinguished lawyer, I want you on the team. You have a lot to offer, and I am sure that with all the intelligent men and women on your side of the aisle and on our side of the aisle we could do what is right for mom and dad. We can give them that choice of physician. We can give them the plan that is going to be there tomorrow. We can let them have the same choices we have when we go into our insurance situation, and we would not have to tell them, you stay with that 1964 Blue Cross plan that we designed for you because you are not driving that 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne any more. We want to bring you into the nineties on health care. That is what we are trying to do, and I think itself so irresponsible for us, and it is really just tacky, and it is not what we are sent here to do, is to say, oh, look what's happening. This is a tax cut for the wealthy and so forth. So I will be glad to yield to my friend when I get some time later on.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent the gentleman yield back his time without having it charged against him in the name of decorum so we can go back and forth.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield? Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I will yield back when my time comes to repay him.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, ``Oh, ain't it funky now.'' Those immortal and prophetic words are written and sung by that Godfather of Soul, James Brown, from his classic hit, ``Ain't It Funky, Part 2.'' Surely these words must have been the inspiration of the Clinton reelection theme when they came up with the motto ``Get the Funk Out of America.'' And I never knew funk was a big problem out there. It has not shown up in any of my polling data. But we always knew that the Clinton administration marches to the beat of a different drummer. And, as Sonny Bono might say, last night the beat goes on, because, in an apparent complete reversal, Mr. Clinton said at a Democrat fundraiser, of all places, that there are a lot of people still mad about his huge, largest tax increase in the history of America. He said, ``It might surprise you to know that I think I raised taxes too much too.'' So now, Mr. Speaker, we have the President once again noticing that the White House weather vane has changed directions, and he is going to get behind the middle class tax cut. Hallelujah, another campaign promise he is going to be forced to keep. Mr. Speaker, I welcome the President in supporting the middle class tax cut.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, you know, there are a lot of great statesmen that have walked through the halls of Congress for many years from both parties, people who have done so much with the budget, people who have done a lot with the Judiciary, people who have done a lot with the House rules and appropriations process. Fair men and women on both sides of the aisle have added so much to the institution. Sometimes people ask me, well, what is your identity? What great issue have you done? I guess after thinking about this, oh, for a long time, Mr. Speaker, I would say, maybe I could be best described as the Congressman in the carpool line. Not really glamorous, but you know, I do, every Monday, drive the carpool. Then often after driving the carpool, I go over to the Piggly Wiggly, buy a little milk or whatever we happen to run out of. Then if you see me on a Saturday, I am at the soccer field. Our daughter plays soccer. Often I will go to other things. Last weekend, for example, I went to Midway, GA, for an opening of a school down there, actually not an opening, but a new building of a school in the community that was an African-American community in coastal Georgia over 100 years ago. We are trying to restore that area. There is a lot of good leadership on that. After that meeting I went to the Farm Bureau meeting in Folkston, GA. Then the next day, Mr. Speaker, I went to Odom, GA, to the Odom homecoming. The population of Odom last year went from 692 to over 700 people this year. During this period, all day long, whether I am in the carpool line or at the grocery store or at the Farm Bureau meeting or at the Odom homecoming, people are coming up to me and asking me about Medicare, asking me about the budget, asking me about the debt ceiling. They are giving me opinions on Bosnia, and all kinds of different things, the space station B-2. Sometimes the questions are from people that know more about the issue than I do. Other times they are general questions. Generally they just want me to listen to them. I try my best to do that, Mr. Speaker, as I know every other Member of Congress does. I think we can be proud that so many of our Members are good listeners. They do return back home. They do listen. But now let us compare ourselves to the other body. In this House, in this great U.S. Capitol, we have two bodies. We have the lower House and then we have the other body, which decorum does not permit me using their name. When we refer to the folks on the other side of the Capitol as the other body, I did not know we were speaking of a corpse. But that is what we are. We are speaking of folks who are not coming home and are not listening and not going to the grocery store and are not going to the homecomings and listening to the man and woman on the street on their different views. I think as a result of that, Mr. Speaker, our product of government is not as good as it should be, because I believe that one of the key things we have to do as representative government is always remember who sent us here, why they sent us here, and remember the promises and the representations that were made to these folks. We are going into a very critical period, Mr. Speaker. We have passed 12 appropriations bills. They are now in that other body. Some of them have come back and we have had some conference committee meetings on them. But the bulk of our work is still yet to be done. The bulk of our work, including not just finalization of the appropriations process, but the reconciliation, where we amass all the bills, all the legislation into one monster bill that we have to pass on both sides. [[Page H 10120]] Through this process, I believe House Members in both parties have paid close attention to the constituents back home. A lot of our constituents in Georgia, for example, are saying you all are not going far enough. You are backing off on your promises. You are not doing what you said you are going to do. Maybe in some areas you have gone too far too fast. But people want us to listen, and they want to be assured that what we are doing is in the interests of what is best for the Republican Party but for the American public. I believe that that is the case, Mr. Speaker. But I must say I worry about our friends on the other side of the aisle, if they are listening to the degree that they need to be listened to. I would urge the folks back home, because of that, to continue writing Members of the House and the Senate and give opinions on how they feel, because I do not think the message in every case is getting through. As we go into the budget process, right now it is even more important than other times. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan], if he would like some time.

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California is never without an opinion and never without truth and righteousness. It was refreshing to see the gentleman the other night spouting some of his views.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, my mom does not trust them. She trusts me.

Mr. KINGSTON. I yield to the gentlewoman from Colorado. [[Page H 10089]]

Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting the previous speaker would say that, take your plan to the trustees. They are a bunch of politicians, Reich, Shalala, and Rubin, all appointed by President Clinton. As the gentlewoman well knows, not one of them is an elected Member of Congress. I do not think Members of Congress need to go around pandering to Clinton administration trustees, saying would you please accept our plan. You are all good Democrats. As the gentlewoman knows, Medicare is a 1964 Blue Cross plan. I want to do something for my mom. I do not want her to drive around in a 1964 Chevrolet Biscayne that we used to have when I was a kid. We are trying to do what I hope the Democrats are trying to do: Protect, preserve, and strengthen Medicare. We want your help. I agree with the gentlewoman it should not be partisan. It bothers me when I hear countless speech after speech, partisan flame throwing back and forth. We have to decrease the inflation rate. Medicare is up to an 11- percent inflation rate. We have to bring it down to the 4- to 6-percent rage. We have been accused of cutting Medicare, but we are going from $4,800 to $6,700 per recipient. We want seniors to have the options and choices on physicians, and so forth.

Mr. KINGSTON

Mr. KINGSTON. There is no reason, in getting back to my days as a commercial insurance agent, I can say this, there is no reason that insurance products as an intangible item cannot advance the way a tangible computer chip does. When I sold workers compensation, product liability, fire insurance, I can tell you just in the 10 or 12 years I was in the business, the policies changed tremendously and in most cases got more competitive and at a lower price brought a better product to the consumer. That is what we need to do with Medicare so that our seniors, and the gentlewoman from California mentioned about the senior population increasing, I believe the population sector that is increasing the most in society right now is the individuals over 87 years old. We need to have the innovations, the technology and the know-how to keep up with them, so that we can continue offering some of the great things that the private sector can do and not have this stifling bureaucracy that cuts off innovation and deprives the consumer.

Mr. KINGSTON. What the gentleman is saying, instead of taking the money from the people, the American middle class, you are going to take it from the Washington bureaucrats, which is exactly the platform that the two of you and the other Members of the freshman class campaigned on. When I go back home and talk to my civic clubs and describe the freshman class, I say for the first time in my political life normal people create the majority of the folks in there. I believe, as your freshman class has got a reputation, you are not running for Senate, you are not running for President, you are not running to be committee chairmen up here in 20 years. You just want to balance the budget and go home and make a better America, and I think that that is the difference, and this is your approach on Medicare. You are being reasonable. You are being sensible. You are moving to simplify it. You are moving to protect it. You are moving to save it. You are moving to strengthen it. That is what the American people want. I am glad to be part of your team. Even though I am in the sophomore class, I do think our philosophies are exactly alike, and I am proud to be with you, and I appreciate being in this special order tonight.

Mr. KINGSTON. If the gentleman will yield, after the outside-the- beltway tax increase, the Bush-Democrat party deal, the economy slumped. Revenues did not increase, because the prosperity was not there. Yet under the Reagan cut, prosperity increased, revenues increased. There comes a point where the American public has had all the fun they can stand and they are not going to continue working this hard. The UPS driver that I was talking about, why would he want to continue working 50 hours a week when he knows the marginal increase is almost zip?

Mr. KINGSTON. We just do now want to take it in the first place. It is the people's money. That is what really gets me about the arrogance on the other side when they say you are giving money to them. It ain't our money, for crying out loud. We are talking about the people of America. We are talking about their money. We are just not going to confiscate as much as we have been confiscating. If you do not think it is confiscation, don't pay your taxes one time and find out about it. That is the absolute truth. I was speaking last week to the drivers of UPS in my district. A guy said to me: Listen, I make good money as a truck driver for UPS. I don't make a lot of money but it is a good living. I've got 3 kids. My wife works. We work typically 50 hours a week or more each. Yet at the end of the month, we have got absolutely zero because our money is going to taxes. As you know statistically, that two-income middle-class family is paying 40.5 percent of their income in taxes. The same family in the 1950's as a percentage of that income only 2 percent went to the Federal Government. Today that family is paying 24 percent to the Federal Government. We are killing the American middle class with taxes and they are sick and tired of it and it is their doggone money. We are not giving it back to them.

Mr. KINGSTON. If the gentleman will yield, there is one thing that always goes on in Washington, and we all admit it goes on on the left, it goes on on the right, and that is special interest groups that surround Members of Congress by telling folks back home: The sky is falling. The only way you can prevent it is by sending me a $25 check and writing this postcard to your Member of Congress telling him or her what to do. It is all this fear. One of the things that the other side of the aisle is employing is the tax cut for the rich to pay for Medicare. Let us talk about the tax cut a minute. First of all, statistically when you put more money in the pocket of the American consumers, they buy more goods and services, jobs expand, more people are working, revenues to the Treasury actually go up. Under Ronald Reagan, for example, from 1980 to 1990 revenues after his tax cut went from $500 billion to $1 trillion. Unfortunately, spending on a bipartisan basis outpaced revenues. However, there was truly a lesson. The same thing was done under Kennedy. Let us look at this so-called tax increase: $500 per child tax credit, and taking care of your mother in your house or your father in your house. If I have a senior citizen who is a dependent living in my house, I get a tax credit for it. You do not hear the Democrats talking about this senior citizens' earnings limitation, so that if they are 65 and they want to continue to work, they will not be penalized up to $30,000 on their Social Security by working. Senior citizens want to continue working after 65. We are trying to give them the option of it. Increasing the estate tax from $600,000 to $750,000 so that seniors, should they choose, can continue to save their money and pass it on to their children if they want to. And then the capital gains tax cuts. In my district, and I am sure every other district in America, you have growth areas. Very typically you have a widow who has lived in the house for 30 years and suddenly that property, not suddenly but over the 30-year period of time, is worth a lot of money. She wants to sell it. She may need to sell it for long-term health care, for a retirement home, for a medical emergency, or whatever, and yet if she does, she is going to be clobbered at a 28- percent tax rate for the value of that up to her income bracket. What is wrong with cutting that in half for the senior citizen? Yet we just hear all this fearmongering that the Rockefellers are going to benefit from it. That is not the case. Seventy-five percent of the money goes to people with a combined income of $75,000 or less, and our senior citizens will benefit tremendously from it.

Mr. KINGSTON. In fact, the Federal government is the largest purchaser of vacuum tubes, I believe, in the world. And no one in America has a TV or radio anymore, unless they have it for novelty purposes, run by vacuum tubes.

Mr. KINGSTON. Or the congressional plan, opening up a Federal employee type benefit plan for seniors. If it is good enough for the U.S. Congress, it is good enough for my mama. I want to comment on this computer chip, because I think it is interesting that you bring out that high technology, because that was done by the private sector. If the government was in charge of the development of that computer chip, we would still be on the vacuum tube.

Mr. KINGSTON. It will be in simplified, easy to understand terms so that you do not have to be an accountant. You do not have to be a lawyer. You do not have to be an insurance agent to understand it. You do not have to have it explained to you.