[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 91 (Thursday, July 14, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 14, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        DEMOCRAT HEALTH CARE PLANS DESTRUCTIVE TO SMALL BUSINESS

  (Mr. DOOLITTLE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, Americans know this country is in 
trouble, and it is interesting to hear all of these great confessions 
of success from the other side today. It is interesting that the 
President's standing and the Democrats standing continues to drop in 
the polls as people get more and more worried about the future of this 
country. I must say, the country does not seem to share this euphoria 
about the success of the President's economic plan.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, the National Federation of Independent Businesses 
issued a bulletin: ``How many employers provide health insurance?'' It 
says, that a Federal law, such as that proposed by President Clinton 
and Congressional Democrats, requiring all employers to provide 
coverage to all employees, including part-timers, will have a 
significant, destructive impact on all small firms.
  Elsewhere in this bulletin it observes that less than half--40-45 
percent--the employers provide health insurance of any kind to any 
portion of their employment force. Therefore, the reality, as the NFIB 
observes, is that the Democrats' health care plans, including the 
President's plan, will be highly destructive to small businesses 
because it will raise their costs of doing business. Businesses will 
have to cut costs in response, and this response will include job cuts. 
So the very jobs the Democrats claim President Clinton has created with 
his economic plan will be wiped out by his health care plan--a plan 
which analysts project could cost up to 1 million jobs.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to reform health insurance to make it more 
affordable, but we do not need any more taxes laid on the backs of 
business or the American people. They are suffocating from taxes and 
regulation as it is.

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