Frank Pallone: “I continue to criticize the Gingrich-Dole Medicare cuts because basically they are being used to pay for tax breaks for…”

“I continue to criticize the Gingrich-Dole Medicare cuts because basically they are being used to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy. They open the door for doctors to overcharge seniors beyond current copayment ceilings, and basically force seniors into managed care and eliminate their choice of doctors. But now these tax breaks are coming at the very time when, in today's New York Times, it is reported that the income disparity between the poorest and the richest continues to rise. The Census Bureau said today that the gap between the most affluent Americans and everyone else is wider than it has been since the end of World War II, and the Bureau has determined that from 1968, when the gap began to widen, to 1994, the last year for which complete data were available, each indicator has shown a pronounced increase between the gap in the income of the well-to-do and those of the poor and working class. So why do we continue to make these Medicare cuts in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy? The income disparity in this country has never been as great, and it just indicates once again why the Gingrich Republicans and the Republican leadership continue to play to the special interests, and that is the wealthy Americans, with these tax cuts.”