[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 7 (Wednesday, February 2, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
OPEN UP THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE: PASS THE HEALTHCARE SUNSHINE RESOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Torkildsen] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. TORKILDSEN. Mr. Speaker, when President Clinton began the process 
of creating a national health care reform plan, no effort was made to 
include the general public in the formulation process. In fact, the 
public was effectively locked out of the process. Virtually every 
meeting and discussion held by the Health Care Task Force was, despite 
public outrage, held in private behind locked doors, totally 
inaccessible to the American public.
  President Clinton is to be commended for bringing the vital issue of 
health care reform to the forefront of national debate. But bringing up 
the issue isn't enough. The American people deserve to see what 
decisions are made which will affect their health care.
  Next week I will be introducing the healthcare sunshine resolution 
which will require that all House committee and subcommittee hearings 
and markup sessions be open to the public and the media. This 
resolution will also encourage that the Senate and the administration 
to open all of their proceedings as well.
  This will be something of a first in the U.S. Congress. While major 
legislation in the past has had public hearings, decisions on what 
remained in the legislation were another subject. During markup, when 
it was decided what would actually remain in legislation, what would be 
added to the bill, what would be left on the cutting room floor, rarely 
did any average citizen ever have access to every step of the process. 
For instance, after public hearings on the tax increase last year, the 
House Ways and Means Committee decided to complete markup of the bill 
while the public was excluded. For 3 of the 5 days during Ways and 
Means markup, the public was told they had no right to see or hear what 
decisions were being made.
  The quality of health care in America is extremely high for those 
Americans who have access to it. Most Americans would agree that we 
must reform our health care system to make it more accessible and more 
affordable. Currently, those who will be most affected by health care 
reform are excluded from the process of its actual creation. There are 
a few legitimate reasons for Congress and the administration to act 
behind closed doors, but none of them apply to the health care debate.
  No matter which plan eventually comes before the House--whether the 
Clinton plan, the Cooper or Chafee managed competition plans, the 
single payer, the medisave account, or some combination of two or more 
of them, the American people deserve to understand what trade offs are 
being made, and by whom. Only by opening up all parts of the process 
will this understanding begin to be possible.
  To allow an open process, support the healthcare sunshine resolution.

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