Political Quotes

“it is budget time again. Once again, I hear my extreme radical Republican colleagues, under the gentleman from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, and Bob Dole telling the American public they are going to save Medicare. How are they going to do that? They are going to do that by cutting it by $168 billion, by forcing senior citizens to pay more for health care, by gutting rural health care, and by closing hospitals. This budget cuts funding for hospitals by 19 percent. How are my radical Republican colleagues going to save Medicare if they close hundreds of hospitals? Mr. Speaker, according to the Missouri Hospital Association, this would not be a mere reduction in the rate of increase, but a dangerous and devastating cut in payment. Rather than receiving an increased level of payment for services that are more intensive and increasingly costly to deliver, hospitals will be paid less in each of the next 6 years than they are paid this year. Many of the rural hospitals in my district will be devastated by these cuts and forced to close their doors. How does this improve health care for American senior citizens?”