[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 68 (Thursday, May 26, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    TRIGGERS JUST SMOKE AND MIRRORS

  (Mr. KNOLLENBERG asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Speaker, by all published accounts, one of the 
so-called keys to any health care reform compromise are the 
``triggers.''
  No, I am not talking about Roy Rogers' horse, or some western 
gunfight. I am talking about true legislative trickery.
  These triggers are the date at which a specific health care reform 
legislation, probably a Government-run system, would be put into 
operation should other reforms prove unsuccessful.
  The two types of triggers being discussed are equally bad. The hard 
triggers are bad because they require the automatic institution of any 
legislation without any congressional approval.
  The soft triggers are bad, because this will doom any real reform 
measures we take now, by forcing us to come back in just a few years 
and start this process all over again. What a waste!
  So what are our choices: abdication of responsibility or failure to 
act in the public's best interest?
  Mr. Speaker, these are not choices that I feel comfortable with.
  We need substantial health care reform, today! And our dialog must be 
about what is right for the American people, not about smoke and 
mirrors!

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