[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]

 
          CONGRESS SHOULD NOT RUSH LEGISLATION ON HEALTH CARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Poshard). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Washington [Ms. Dunn] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. DUNN. Mr. Speaker, first I want to thank our Freshman Republican 
Class President, Buck McKeon, and my colleagues from Michigan, 
Congressmen Knollenberg and Hoekstra, for organizing this special order 
to address our concerns about the process by which health reform is 
being considered.
  Mr. Speaker, to be candid, President Clinton is right when he says 
passing real health care reform is the opportunity of a lifetime. The 
President is proposing a truly historic change to 15 percent of the 
economy, the 15 percent of the economy that at one time or another 
affects each and every American. So, this is my concern about the 
process: Before we can vote on legislation that affects every man, 
woman, and child, we need to see more than a vague outline of the new 
Clinton bill.
  It took Mrs. Clinton and a committee of 500 over one entire year to 
devise the original Clinton Government-run health care bill. While I 
strongly disagreed with the original Clinton proposal, I do appreciate 
the fact that Mrs. Clinton recognized the complexity of the health care 
situation and spent a corresponding amount of time crafting a bill.
  Our Democrat colleagues, like our Republican colleagues, thoroughly 
reviewed the first Clinton bill, listened to the American people and 
discarded the original Clinton bill because it was a terrible piece of 
legislation.
  This is good news for the country. Because the process worked. 
Elected Members of Congress made a calculated decision based on an in-
depth analysis of the information provided. I ask my colleagues to 
think about it. Mrs. Clinton spent a year developing this bill and 
Congress spent another 6 months analyzing this bill and making a 
determination as to its viability. That is how the process is supposed 
to work.
  Now, according to a recent Washington Post report, at the last 
minute, we have a handful of staffers trying to flesh out the details 
of the new Clinton bill. I want the American people to think about 
this: Right now the fate of one-seventh of the economy and the medical 
care that is provided to your family is being decided by a frantic 
group locked in a room here in the Capitol. What it comes down to is 
this . . . President and Mrs. Clinton couldn't put together a viable 
health care plan in a year and a half, and now the Democrat leadership 
thinks that it can put one together in 2 weeks. Then, they expect me, 
you, and all of the other Members of Congress to make a decision on a 
1,500 page bill after looking at it for 3 or 4 days. Doctor Clinton, 
this is prescription for disaster.
  Washington, DC, is awash with talk of a health care crisis. But, if 
we can't debate, if we can't deliberate, and if we can't even see the 
text of the new Clinton bill, we will create a health care crisis. We 
will create a crisis that will devastate the finest health care system 
in the world and threaten the health of every family and every 
American.

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