[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 109 (Tuesday, August 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              LET US HAVE AN HONEST DEBATE ON HEALTH CARE

  Mr. BOEHNER. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, as the debate over health 
care begins here in the Congress, I hope that the debate will be an 
honest one. There are certainly many Members on both sides of the aisle 
in both Chambers who have differing opinions and strong opinions about 
what direction health care reform ought to take.
  But it appears that over the weekend the new strategy from the 
Democrats here in the Congress is one to try to mislead or possibly 
even deceive the American people. Over the weekend on ``This Week With 
David Brinkley'' the majority leader, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. 
Gephardt], said, ``We are waiting for the Republican proposals.'' On 
``Meet the Press'' Leon Panetta, the White House chief of staff, said, 
``We are still waiting for the Republican proposals.'' And on Saturday, 
in a speech in Michigan, the President accused the Republicans of 
``playing politics with the health care of the people of the United 
States.''
  Mr. Speaker, I think these statements are at best somewhat deceiving. 
Let me first state the first fact: On September 15, 1993, the 
Republicans in the House of Representatives introduced our version of 
health care reform. It has more cosponsors than any health care 
legislation in the Congress today. Remember, September 15, 1993; the 
bill is right here. You can look at it. You can read it. It has been in 
the hopper since September of last year.

  The second point is we have H.R. 3955, introduced on March 3, 1994. 
This is the Rowland-Bilirakis bill. It has 74 cosponsors, half 
Republican, half Democrat. It has been in the hopper since, again, 
March 3, 1994, for the American people to read and to digest. Fact 
three: The Republicans in this House, moderate and conservative 
Democrats in this House have been meeting for months trying to find and 
craft a bipartisan bill that can get to 218 Members. It has been an 
honest attempt by both sides of the aisle to bring real reform to 
health care without new taxes and without the involvement of some big 
Government bureaucracy.
  Having said that, I wonder where the majority leader's bill is. We 
have been hearing about the Clinton-Gephardt bill for weeks. And I can 
tell you, as I stand here, the bill does not even exist. We do not have 
it. It is not written yet. You cannot read it. I cannot read it. The 
American people cannot read it.
  And so when we begin to look at this debate, let us make sure the 
debate is about honesty. It is about principled policy positions that 
each of the parties have. But, again, as I say that, I begin over the 
weekend to read more and more about some of the politics being played 
to move the Gephardt bill that we have not seen here in the House.
  This is not about policy provisions. It is about politics. It is 
about exempting the State of Hawaii because they have their own plan, 
and certainly they should not be involved in this. It is about 
exempting Rochester, NY, because they have a good plan there; it is 
working well. Why should we get involved in it? It is about hospitals 
that were in one of the Democrat versions of the bills, hospital pork, 
for a hospital in Chicago and another hospital in New York City.
  Why are these issues involved in health care? It is very simple. It 
is about buying votes. It is about getting enough votes to get to 218 
and to force something out of this House. Look at the politics of 
abortion that is being waged here in the Congress. Some Members want 
abortion coverage, period. If it is not there, they will not vote for 
the bill. Others are saying, ``If you include abortion, I cannot vote 
for the bill.'' And so what are we going to get in the bill itself? We 
are going to get some language that will cost them the fewest number of 
votes.
  This is not about policy. It is about politics.
  The American people deserve the facts, not half-truths, not 
deceptions. They want the facts. And if our Democrat colleagues cannot 
provide the simple facts straight and forward to the American people, 
how can we believe what might be in the Gephardt bill if we ever get to 
see it?
  So I would say to my colleagues the process here in the Congress for 
achieving real health care reform today is flawed. It is flawed because 
we are going to move a bill on August 19; we are told that is the day 
it is going to pass. We are going to start the debate next Monday, but 
yet the bill that we are going to use does not even exist yet.

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