[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 101 (Thursday, July 28, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          POLITICS AND REFORM

  (Mr. GEJDENSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, we have two problems really at hand here. 
One is that the opposition in this House does not believe in the 
Government taking the lead on health care reform, and they ought to be 
honest enough to come forward. We have had these debates before in 
Social Security. They were unanimously against passing Social Security. 
They resisted Medicare, and we saw the other night on ABC News members 
of the Republican Party standing up and saying Medicare was a socialist 
plot. But there is more to it than just their philosophical objections 
to the Government's role in health care. There is a political goal here 
as well.
  Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago, Republican strategist Bill Crystal wrote a 
memo to Republican leaders urging them to defeat all reform, to send 
the Democrats to the voters emptyhanded. Rather than working with us to 
try to address these issues, there is a political goal here to try to 
stop the crime bill, to try to stop health care reform, to try to stop 
campaign finance reform, for the political advantage. It is a message 
to our side to unite to pass the crime bill, to pass campaign finance 
reform and to pass a health care bill that affects all Americans, and 
to do it now.

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