[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 110 (Wednesday, August 10, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, AND, NOW, HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. TORRICELLI asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TORRICELLI. Mr. Speaker, hardly a day goes by where Republican 
Members in this institution do not come to the floor with great 
indignation about why it is they have been in the minority for 40 
years. Well, once again you are about to get a demonstration.
  Fifty years ago when Social Security came to this floor, not a single 
Republican voted for it; 30 years ago when Medicare came to the floor, 
the overwhelming burden was on the Democratic Party.
  They have spent a generation apologizing for it. Now Americans, 80 
million of them with preexisting illnesses, need health insurance; 50 
million need portability so they can change their jobs; 40 million have 
no health insurance at all; 100,000 per month are losing their health 
insurance while a million Americans a year go bankrupt. And the 
Republican Party claims no responsibility, sees no crisis and, in the 
other body, is threatening a filibuster, lest we do something to help 
the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, for a generation they have denied their role in stopping 
social security and Medicare, and I predict a generation from now they 
will regret, they will deny, they will go to new lengths to claim they 
were not on this floor fighting national health insurance.

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