[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 101 (Thursday, July 28, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
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]

 
                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, to accommodate my colleagues, let me just 
say a couple things about health care and about this bus tour.
  I think it is very revealing that now consistently everywhere this 
bus tour goes in support of a phantom bill, which has yet to be 
written, there are over twice as many people turning out who oppose the 
President's plan as people who are turning out to support the 
President's plan.
  That was reflected yesterday in a poll carried by AP where now only 
33 percent of the American people support the President's health care 
plan.
  I do not recall, Mr. President, in my 15 years in public life, of a 
single circumstance where a major legislative proposal which at one 
time had the support of as many as 70 percent of the American people 
has in 1\1/2\ years seen that support decline to only 33 percent.
  I submit that it has not declined because the President does not have 
a big megaphone with which to sell it. I submit that support has not 
collapsed because the President is not a great salesman or because the 
First Lady is not a great saleslady. I submit that support has 
collapsed because the American people are not willing to tear down the 
greatest health care system in the history of the world and reinvent it 
in the image of the Post Office.
  We can adopt a health care bill in the Senate and the House and make 
it the law of the land, but we cannot do it until the President gives 
up on the idea that we are going to have a health care program that is 
run by the Government. That is an absolute nonstarter.
  When my mama gets sick, I want her to talk to a doctor. I want her to 
talk to a doctor of her own choosing. I want her to have a say in her 
health care, and I do not want her to have to talk to and get 
permission from some Government bureaucrat in order to get health care. 
On that issue there is not going to be any compromise.
  (Disturbance in the visitors galleries.)
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The gallery will come to order. The Senate 
will please suspend until the Sergeant at Arms has restored order.
  The Chair would request that the public in the gallery please 
maintain silence so the Senate can continue with its proceedings.
  Mr. GRAMM. Mr. President, I know that a decision has been made to 
extend the health care debate into the recess period, and I am sure 
there are those who believe that there will be Members of the Senate 
who, with a recess pending, will say: ``I've got all these plans, and I 
would like to save the greatest health care system in history. I am 
opposed to socialized medicine. But I promised my wife and my children 
that I would go on vacation.''
  So, therefore, given the choice, the American health care system is 
going to have to suffer.
  But I want to assure my colleagues that I for one have canceled my 
vacation. I am willing to be here to debate this issue. There will be 
no unanimous-consent agreement limiting debate on the health care bill. 
The full rights of every Member will be preserved. We are going to have 
a full and extensive debate.
  I have to believe, Mr. President, that when we have so many Cabinet 
members and agency heads out driving around the country on these buses 
to support a bill that has yet to be written, when nobody knows what is 
in it, we have moved from a debate about a health care plan to a debate 
about a political agenda.
  I know the President believes that he has to get a health care plan 
passed. But Congress does not have to pass just any health care plan.
  I personally doubt that we are going to pass a health care bill under 
the current circumstances before the Congress adjourns for the August 
recess. I believe we need time to know what is in the bill that we are 
debating. And to paraphrase the chairman of the Appropriations 
Committee from his speech yesterday, we need to look at this bill 
closely; when we are building a new house, we need to be sure that the 
plans reflect the resources available and that the builder be prepared 
to adapt his master plan to changing circumstances.
  So anybody who thinks they are going to force a health care bill 
through this Senate by holding us through the August recess had better 
rethink it, because that plan is not going to succeed if I can do 
anything about it.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.

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