[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   VETO THREAT ON HEALTH CARE REFORM

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                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 1, 1994

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member wants to call his colleagues' 
attention to a short but very cogent editorial in the Daily Nebraskan, 
the student newspaper of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on the date 
of January 26, 1994. It properly suggests that health care reform in 
1994 must not be delayed by an unbending presidential commitment for 
universal coverage under a Government-mandated health insurance system.

  [From the Daily Nebraskan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Jan. 26, 
                                 1994]

        Change Focus: Ultimatum Could Injure Health Care Reform

       President Clinton pressured Congress Tuesday to pass the 
     health care reform bill he proposed. Speaking in his first 
     State of the Union address, Clinton promised to veto any bill 
     that did not guarantee what he had demanded: universal 
     coverage for all Americans.
       ``If the legislation you send me does not guarantee every 
     American private health insurance that can never be taken 
     away, I will take this pen, veto that legislation, and we'll 
     come right back here and start over again,'' he said.
       Clinton's goal of universal coverage is admirable, but he 
     should not issue an ultimatum that will hurt his own cause. 
     If the Congress can devise a solution to the health care 
     crisis in the United States that does not require universal 
     coverage, the president should be willing to compromise.
       The biggest health care problem in the United States is the 
     estimated 30 million people who do not have health insurance. 
     The first step in health care reform is providing insurance 
     for them.
       President Clinton should focus his plan on making sure that 
     all Americans have access to insurance rather than demanding 
     that everyone is covered under one plan mandated by the 
     government. He should work with Congress to ensure the 30 
     million Americans without insurance can be treated instead of 
     demanding his plan be passed.
       If Clinton insists on demanding that only his program be 
     passed, he risks getting no plan at all. He needs to work 
     with the Congress in the months ahead to forge a health care 
     plan that will both work and can be passed.

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