[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 16, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      VOTES ON HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Michel] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MICHEL. Mr. Speaker, as we know, the initial votes on health care 
reform took place yesterday in the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee.
  In order to insure that the markup process remains as open as 
possible, and that information on all votes in Committee is made 
available to the general public, it is my intention to place in the 
Congressional Record on a daily basis each and every committee rollcall 
vote, broken down by members.
  This will help to insure that members are fully accountable to their 
constituents for the way they vote in committee.
  It is noteworthy from yesterday's votes that most Democrats on the 
subcommittee are voting in favor of a government-run health care system 
financed by job-killing employer mandates.
  We think there are much more commonsense ways to reform our health 
care system that will not result in more bureaucracy, rationing, and 
job loss, and those commonsense approaches are included in H.R. 3080, 
the Affordable Health Care Now Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I request permission to insert at this point in the 
Record the votes on health care reform which took place in committee on 
March 15 and 16, 1994:

       The following recorded vote was taken on March 16, 1994 in 
     the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and Means 
     during consideration of Chairman Stark's substitute proposal 
     for H.R. 3600, the Health Security Act of 1994:
       A motion by Mr. Kleczka to table an amendment by Mr. 
     Andrews (TX), Mr. Cardin, and Mr. Levin to raise the tobacco 
     tax to $2.00 per pack (estimated to raise a total of $12 
     billion annually) to finance: $8 billion in subsidies for 
     businesses with 100 or fewer employees (specific subsidies to 
     be determined at a later date by the full Committee on Ways 
     and Means); $2.25 billion for a formula grant program for 
     Academic Health Centers; $750 million to fund grants to local 
     governments for lead abatement programs; and $1 billion to 
     fund essential community provider programs as defined in the 
     Stark substitute for H.R. 3600. Motion to table the amendment 
     was adopted 6 to 5.


                               Democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``nay.''
       Mr. Levin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``nay.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``yea.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``yea.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``yea.''


                              Republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``yea.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``nay.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``yea by proxy.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``yea by proxy.''
       The following recorded votes were taken on March 15, 1994 
     in the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and 
     Means during consideration of Chairman Stark's substitute 
     proposal for H.R. 3600, the Health Security Act of 1994:


                            Amendment No. 1

       An amendment by Mr. Grandy to strike the employer mandate 
     and replace it with a provision to require employers to 
     offer, but not pay for, insurance to their employees. It 
     would also strike portions of the bill requiring individuals 
     to pay for health coverage and portions requiring employers 
     who currently pay for health coverage to do so for a 5-year 
     period. Defeated 6 to 5.


                               Democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``nay.''
       Mr. Levin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``yea.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``nay.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``nay.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``nay.''


                              Republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``yea.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``yea.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``yea.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``yea.''


                            Amendment No. 2

       An amendment by Mrs. Johnson (CT) to strike the requirement 
     that employers who currently offer benefits packages more 
     generous than the national benefits package contained in the 
     bill continue to provide current levels of benefits for five 
     years. Defeated 6 to 5.


                               Democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``nay.''
       Mr. Levin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``yea.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``nay.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``nay.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``nay.''


                              republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``yea.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``yea.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``yea.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``yea.''


                            amendment no. 3

       An amendment by Mr. McCrery to permit individuals to fully 
     deduct amounts they spend to purchase health insurance, 
     offset by provisions that would limit the employer deduction 
     and employee tax exclusion of health care premiums to the 
     average cost of benefit plans in the geographic area. 
     Defeated 6 to 5.


                               democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``nay.''
       Mr. Levin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``yea.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``nay.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``nay.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``nay.''


                              republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``yea.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``yea.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``yea.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``yea.''


                            amendment no. 4

       An amendment by Mr. Cardin to clarify that the employer 
     responsibility is to contribute at least 80 percent of the 
     cost of the premium for the least expensive plan offered to 
     the employee which meets the minimum benefit standard, and 
     provided that the least expensive plan offers a choice of 
     doctors. Adopted 7 to 4.


                               democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``yea.''
       Mr. Levin, ``yea.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``yea.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``yea.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``nay.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``nay.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``nay.''


                              republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``nay.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``yea.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``yea.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``yea.''


                            amendment no. 5

       An amendment by Mr. McCrery to permit individuals to fully 
     deduct amounts they spend to purchase health insurance, 
     offset by provisions that would means test the Part B 
     Medicare premium and provide for 10 percent coinsurance on 
     Medicare clinical laboratory services. Defeated 7 to 4.


                               democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``nay.''
       Mr. Levin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``nay.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``nay.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``nay.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``nay.''


                              republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``yea.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``yea.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``yea.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``yea.''


                            amendment no. 6

       An amendment by Mr. Kleczka to expand the employer mandate 
     from requiring employers to pay for 80 percent of individual 
     coverage to requiring them to pay for 80 percent of the cost 
     of family coverage. Adopted 6 to 4.


                               democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``yea.''
       Mr. Levin, ``yea.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``yea.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``not voting.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``yea.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``yea.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``yea.''


                              republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``nay.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``nay.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``nay.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``nay.''


                            amendment no. 7

       An amendment by Mr. Grandy to strike the provision 
     requiring employers with any obligation to pay for early 
     retiree health care coverage as of October 1, 1993 to pay at 
     least 80 percent of the cost of covering such retirees under 
     Medicare Part C. Defeated 6 to 5.


                               democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``nay.''
       Mr. Levin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``yea by proxy.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``nay.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``nay.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``nay.''


                              republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``yea.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``yea.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``yea.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``yea.''


                            amendment no. 8

       An amendment by Mr. McDermott to allow employers with more 
     than 100 employees to offer Medicare Part C to their 
     employees as one of the choices of insurance plans, offset by 
     increasing the payroll tax provided in the bill from .8 
     percent to .96 percent. The effective date of the amendment 
     would be January 1, 2001. Defeated 5 to 5.


                               democrats

       Mr. Stark, ``yea.''
       Mr. Levin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Cardin, ``nay.''
       Mr. Andrews (TX), ``not voting.''
       Mr. McDermott, ``yea.''
       Mr. Kleczka, ``yea.''
       Mr. Lewis, ``yea.''


                              republicans

       Mr. Thomas (CA), ``nay.''
       Mrs. Johnson (CT), ``yea.''
       Mr. Grandy, ``nay.''
       Mr. McCrery, ``nay.''

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