[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 94 (Tuesday, July 19, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE

  (Mr. HERGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, quote, these mandates get a little hard to 
defend, end of quote. Those were the words that Democratic Gov. Bruce 
King of New Mexico talking about employer mandates and health reform. 
Governor King was explaining why Democrat Governors could not endorse 
the concept of employer mandates at their meeting in Washington just 
yesterday. It is the same reason Custer lost at Little Big Horn:
  ``You can't defend the indefensible.''
  But that is exactly what the Clinton White House continues to do. 
They continue to demand that Congress include a job-killing employer 
mandate in any health care reform.
  Call it Clinton's last stand, call it bull headed obstinacy, call it 
impractical idealism. Just do not call it real health care reform.
  Mr. Speaker, the President threatens to lead our health care to ruin 
as he continues to press for his employer mandate. I urge him to stop 
defending the indefensible and work with Republicans to achieve 
commonsense health care reform.

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