[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 102 (Friday, July 29, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 29, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            DEMOCRATS MEET SECRETLY TO WRITE NEW HEALTH BILL

  (Mr. KINGSTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KINGSTON. Madam Speaker, here we go again. After all of the 
promises of ending gridlock with bipartisan cooperation, the Democrat 
leadership has spent the past few weeks secretly meeting behind closed 
doors to work on a new version of the Clinton health care plan. 
Excluded from the meeting, rank and file Democrats, the press, the 
public, and above all, Republicans. Were special interest groups there? 
I do not know. But maybe what is more important than who was at the 
meeting is what is in the bill.
  Who has read it? Who will get a chance to read it? Will we get a 
chance to read it before we vote, and will our constituents get a 
chance to review it and give us input before that vote takes place?
  Ladies and gentlemen, I am a newcomer to Congress, but this is no way 
to run a country. I belong to a hopeful and an optimistic bipartisan 
group of legislators in this House who want to vote on the Rowland-
Bilirakis alternative, which we think is a good health care bill. It 
targets the needy and it does not give big government more power.

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