[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 104 (Tuesday, August 2, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             MORE TIME NEEDED TO CONSTRUCT HEALTH CARE BILL

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                            HON. RON PACKARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 2, 1994

  Mr. PACKARD. Mr. Speaker, Congress is racing to find the cure for 
what ails our health care system. However, the remedy the congressional 
leadership is hastily concocting may be more toxic than the disease.
  The ingredients for this potion include taxes, mandates, global 
budgets, and huge Federal wage and price controls. If the American 
people are forced to swallow this brew, they will suffer from lost 
jobs, less choice, rationed care and higher taxes.
  I believe that the American people deserve more than a last-ditch, 
last minute, closed-door effort by Members to turn the world's best 
health care system over to Government bureaucrats.
  The cure the American people are looking for is a carefully 
constructed bill which would ensure access, choice and quality--not 
high costs, lost jobs and 50,000 more paper-shufflers.
  Recent polls show that the majority of the American people oppose the 
Clinton-Gephardt approach to health care reform. However, some Members 
of Congress think that the views of the American people are 
insignificant, proclaiming that ``we are going to push through health 
care reform regardless of the views of the American people.''
  Mr. Speaker, we are not mad scientists working in darkened labs to 
satisfy our own whims and objectives. We are here to serve the 
interests of the American people. We need to take the time to listen to 
those interests and construct a bill which addresses those concerns.

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