[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 130 (Saturday, August 5, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1645]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND 
               RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996

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                               speech of

                             HON. VIC FAZIO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 2, 1995

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2127) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human 
     Services, and Education, and related agencies, for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 1996, and for other purposes:

  Mr. FAZIO of California. Mr. Chairman, I agree with Mr. Obey. If he's 
said it once, he's said it a thousand times: This language has no place 
in an appropriations bill. It should not be hidden in an appropriations 
bill.
  That said, I rise in support of Mr. Ganske's amendment to strike this 
language. First, this language is completely unnecessary. Its 
supporters will say that it protects those who have moral and religious 
reservations about abortion from discrimination. But the Accreditation 
Council for Graduate Medical Education--the independent organization of 
medical professionals who set the standards for medical education--does 
not mandate abortion training. Anyone, either an individual or an 
institution, with a legal, moral, or religious objection to such 
training is not required to participate.
  I would argue that the language in this bill serves a different 
purpose. It serves to restrict academic freedom. It serves to restrict 
knowledge about a legal medical procedure its supporters find 
personally unacceptable.
  In order to satisfy their personal priorities, they have inserted 
this language which represents an unprecedented intrusion into the 
actions of a private organization. As Dr. James Todd, executive vice 
president of the American Medical Association has said, accreditation 
is a ``private sector, professional process.''
  I don't know about you, but I do not pretend to know the first thing 
about the ins and outs of a medical education. Congress has no business 
regulating medical curriculum. Not only do we not know enough about it, 
it is not within our jurisdiction. To again repeat the words of Dr. 
Todd, ``The curriculum of educational programs, and the standards by 
which these programs are evaluated, should not be subject to Federal or 
State legislative initiatives, and should not be politicized by 
governmental regulation.''
  Listen to the experts. Support the Ganske amendment.
  

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