[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 77 (Friday, June 17, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 17, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               TRUE BIPARTISANSHIP IN HEALTH CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Emerson] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMERSON. Madam Speaker, the Republican whip, the gentleman from 
Georgia [Mr. Gingrich], was talking about the need for true 
bipartisanship in health care reform, and I commend the statement that 
he made. I think it was a very important statement.
  He suggested that a good starting point for bipartisan cooperation in 
health care reform would be the Rowland-Bilirakis bill, the gentleman 
from Georgia [Mr. Rowland] being a Democrat, and the gentleman from 
Florida [Mr. Bilirakis] being a Republican. They have joined together 
with a large number of Republicans and Democrats in focusing on what I 
think the American people really want to have us focus on, and that is 
portability, preexisting condition, medical malpractice or tort reform, 
and access either to insurance or access to the medical system.
  As this debate has occurred over the last couple of years, I have 
heard from many, maybe disparate elements of society, indeed, from many 
diverse interests in my own district, and the focus always comes down 
to these issues.

  There are just a lot of elements of what is being considered here in 
Congress being talked about that is not within the focus of the 
American public. They do want us to address those things that are 
broken in our health care system, but I think they want to preserve 
that which works and works well, and I believe that most people will 
agree that we do have the finest health care system in the world. It 
has some deficiencies which should be attended to, but we should not, 
as the old saying goes, throw the baby out with the bath water.
  We need to keep that which is right and fix that which is, in fact, 
broken. There is an awful lot that is more right about our system than 
there is that is wrong.
  I also think that it is very important that we take the time to do 
well whatever we do rather than that we do it quickly.
  I was somewhat amused to see, amused, concerned to see the Memorial 
Day break period a lot of editorial commentary to the fact that 
Congress had missed the boat, missed the deadline; we had not acted by 
Memorial Day, and that surely we must act by July 4, and if we do not 
by July 4, why certainly by the August break.
  I do think it is important to have a timetable and to try to meet 
that timetable. I do not think we should dally or dawdle, but this is, 
after all, an issue. We are talking about tampering with affecting 
somewhere in the neighborhood of one-sixth to one-seventh of the 
Nation's economy, and I do not think that it is something we should 
hasten to fiddle with.
  I think we should carefully deal with the situation, and I think 
ultimately the American people would thank us for having done well 
rather than having done quickly whatever we do.
  Madam Speaker, finally, I want to say that the rhetoric surrounding 
the subject of health care has been very, very substantial. I have 
noted and been concerned over the course of the past many months that 
when the administration calls for bipartisanship, I sense that what 
they are really talking about is it would be considered bipartisan if 
the Republicans said they were for the President's proposal.

                              {time}  1340

  That to me is not bipartisanship. Bipartisanship is where you lay all 
of the differing ideas out on the table and come to some compromise, 
some resolution of the differing ideas, rather than just having one 
party climb on board totally in support of the other party.
  I think that definition of bipartisanship is far too narrow and does 
not lend itself to bringing about a spirit of comity in which true 
bipartisanship can be achieved.
  So I think the remarks of the Republican whip were very appropriate 
in his call for true bipartisanship. Once again I think the Rowland-
Bilirakis bill, as he suggested, would be a fine place to start.

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