[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 883 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 883

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Members of 
the House receive the necessary cost information regarding health care 
     reform legislation at least 72 hours before any vote on such 
                              legislation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 2, 2009

 Mr. Herger (for himself, Mr. Camp, Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, Mr. Ryan 
    of Wisconsin, Mr. Nunes, and Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite of Florida) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                                on Rules

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Members of 
the House receive the necessary cost information regarding health care 
     reform legislation at least 72 hours before any vote on such 
                              legislation.

Whereas it is imperative that Members of the House of Representatives have the 
        necessary cost information before any vote on health care reform 
        legislation in the House;
Whereas, on September 24, 2009, The Hill newspaper reported that Speaker Nancy 
        Pelosi ``has committed to a 72-hour waiting period between posting 
        healthcare legislation online and a final vote on the bill'';
Whereas the Office of the Actuary (OACT) for the Centers for Medicare and 
        Medicaid Services (CMS) is responsible for estimating ``the financial 
        effects of proposals to create national health insurance systems'';
Whereas Peter Orszag, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, 
        stated on February 23, 2009, that the ``single most important thing we 
        can do to improve the long-term fiscal health of our Nation is slow the 
        growth rate in health care costs'';
Whereas the OACT is the only non-partisan Government office capable of 
        estimating changes in national spending on health care of pending 
        legislation and recently estimated that one version of health reform 
        legislation pending in Congress would dramatically increase, rather than 
        decrease, total United States spending on health care;
Whereas, when Congress debated the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and 
        Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-173), the New York Times 
        reported on March 25, 2004, that ``Democrats complained that they had 
        been misled'' when they were denied access to CMS' analysis;
Whereas Representative Charles Rangel, then the Ranking Member on the Ways and 
        Means Committee stated, on March 25, 2004, in reference to the OACT's 
        analysis of that Act, that ``there is a need that we have integrity with 
        professional actuaries and that they can report the information as 
        needed, not wanted, by the Congress'';
Whereas Representative Pete Stark, then the Ranking Member on the Ways and Means 
        Subcommittee on Health, stated on March 25, 2004, that ``there is no 
        doubt in my mind that [that Act] would not have been enacted had these 
        estimates and analyses [from the OACT] been made public during the 
        process''; and
Whereas it is critical for Members and the American public to have a complete 
        and full understanding of the cost and impact of health care reform: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives should not consider 
H.R. 3200, H.R. 3962, or any related health care reform legislation in 
the 111th Congress until the Office of the Actuary for the Centers for 
Medicare and Medicaid Services has made its estimate the financial 
effects of such legislation publicly available for at least 72 hours.
                                 <all>