[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 47 (Tuesday, March 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3094]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  URGING MEMBERS TO COSPONSOR LEGISLATION TO OPEN FEDERAL HEALTH CARE 
   CHOICES TO SMALL BUSINESS EMPLOYEES AND TO SELF-EMPLOYED AMERICANS

  (Mrs. SCHROEDER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute, to revise and extend her remarks, and to include 
extraneous matter.)
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I am wearing this blue ribbon because 
the Girl Scouts today are asking everyone to be the best that they can 
be, and to take some kind of a pledge to try and make our communities 
better.
  One of the things I would hope Members would do would be to seriously 
consider cosponsoring the bill I have, because I think it would make 
Americans' lives better. What would it do? I have a bill that would 
allow anyone who works for a small employer or who is self-employed to 
be able to bid off the same Federal menu of health care choices we as 
Members of Congress get to, the President gets to, and Federal 
employees get to.
  Boy, would that give people some choices and put them in a large pool 
where their premiums would be much more reasonable.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record this editorial in Roll Call 
this week talking about how the Speaker of the House has put on the 
payroll once a year for $100 his fundraiser, so she could have access 
to that health care.
  Let us avoid this. Let us let everyone have it, and let us move on.
  The editorial referred to is as follows:
                          The $100 a Year Club

       Her fundraising services were worth $16,000 to Rep. Newt 
     Gingrich's (R-Ga) campaign between 1990 and 1993; helping 
     Gingrich's Congressional staff learn how to answer 
     constituent mail brought Nancy Bocskor a measly $100 a year. 
     So, why did she bother? The hundred bucks Bocskor earned on 
     Gingrich's payroll enabled her to maintain her participation 
     in the federal employees' health care plan--a far cheaper and 
     better alternative than buying private insurance (Roll Call, 
     March 9). Nothing wrong with that, says Gingrich spokesman 
     Tony Blankley. It's all legitimate under the rules. The 
     question, Blankley says, ``is whether the procedures should 
     be changed, if somebody thinks they are not correct.'' Well, 
     we do. Bocskor is a political fundraising consultant, not a 
     real Hill employee. She shouldn't gain access to official 
     benefits just because she performed a minor--though 
     politically valuable--service to Gingrich. Neither should 
     anybody else in the $100 a year club.
     

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