[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 81 (Thursday, June 23, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1030
 
                     EMPLOYER MANDATE ``TRIGGERS''

  (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, the President's health care reform scheme and 
its single-payer cousin are foundering on the rocks of intense public 
scrutiny. That is good news for America.
  The bad news is that big government types in Congress are trying to 
throw a buy-now-pay-later life preserver to the plan in the form of a 
delayed mandate, commonly known as a trigger.
  When will the Democrats in Congress and the White House realize that 
Americans are wise to their wily buy-now-pay-later ways? Deficit 
spending, for example, saddles future Americans with debt, but it makes 
politicians look good today. Similarly, imposing an employer mandate 
via a trigger kills jobs when it goes into effect down the road, but 
makes politicians look good today.
  Study after study shows that an employer mandate will force between 
600,000 and 3.8 million Americans out of work. With increased 
unemployment on the horizon it is no wonder the Democrat leadership and 
the White House are trying to delay implementing an employer mandate.
  I always thought Trigger was Roy Rogers' horse. Now it means employer 
mandate. Now, it means job killing employer mandate. Now it means buy-
now-pay-later job killing employer mandate.
  If the Democrat leadership and the White House think that a trigger 
is the life preserver that will save Government-run health care, they 
are wrong. It is a lead weight that is going to sink that monstrosity.

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