[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 12 (Wednesday, February 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. GRAMS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago there was a tremendous break-
through in the health care reform debate: President Clinton endorsed 
the Nickles/Stearn consumer choice plan.
  An endorsement of the Nickles-Stearns plan, you say. When? Where? 
Why? Well, let me use the President's own words taken from his State of 
the Union Address:

       The American people provide those of us in government 
     service with terrific health care benefits at reasonable 
     costs. We have health care that's always there. I think we 
     need to give every hardworking, taxpaying American the same 
     health care security they have already given to us.

  It is true, Federal employees have a health care system that puts 
them in charge, not huge Government bureaucracies. And, most 
importantly, this system is the model for the Nickles-Stearns consumer 
choice plan.
  I wonder what changed the President's thinking. Maybe he realized 
there is no health care crisis, that targeted reform is what we need. 
Maybe he realized that rather than riding in on his ``White Horse'' to 
save the day he should keep it tied up in the White House stable.
  Mr. President, take a close look at the Nickles-Stearns consumer 
choice plan, it is health care reform that puts consumers in charge, 
not the Government. And most importantly, it is the plan that you and I 
already have.

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