[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 16] [House] [Page 23396] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]BUDGET TIME MEANS ``MEDISCARE'' TIME (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include extraneous material.) Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, it is budget time, so it is ``Mediscare'' time. We have the age-old tactics that, when one does not have the facts, start scaring people. Who is the easiest of the population to scare? The seniors, beating up on Grandma and Grandpa. That appears to be what the White House is already doing with the Republican budget by saying that the Republican budget takes money out of Social Security. I have a letter in my hand from the director of the Congressional Budget Office, the head guru. He says in short, there is nothing in our budget that takes any money out of Social Security. I will submit this for the Record. It is available for anybody who wants a copy of it. We will distribute it to our misguided liberal friends on the other side. But the fact is, let us have an honest debate. When the President vetoes the appropriations bills, and we have spent up against the budget caps, then the only question remaining is: Mr. President, do you want to spend more money? It comes out of Social Security. Is that what you want to do? At that point, Mr. President, what will you tell Grandma? Mr. Speaker, the letter I referred to is as follows: U.S. Congress, Congressional Budget Office, Washington, DC, September 30, 1999. Hon. J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Speaker: You requested that we estimate the impact on the fiscal year 2000 Social Security surplus using CBO's economic and technical assumptions based on a plan whereby net discretionary outlays for fiscal year 2000 will equal $592.1 billion. CBO estimates that this spending plan will not use any of the projected Social Security surplus in fiscal year 2000. Sincerely, Dan L. Crippen, Director. ____________________