[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 103 (Friday, July 12, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1282-E1283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              LET'S MOVE FORWARD WITH THE PORTABILITY BILL

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                         HON. J. DENNIS HASTERT

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 12, 1996

  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, allow me to quote from an article in this 
past Tuesday's Washington Post: Senator Kennedy told his health care 
aide, ```My political sense is that Clinton gets something--if the 
health reform bill is enacted--but Dole does, too.' His aide replied, 
`If it fails * * * it helps us more than

[[Page E1283]]

them, because we can credibly blame them for killing it.'''
  It's clear that the liberals in the other body would rather use 
health care reform as a political finger-pointing game than give the 
American people portability, or give the self-employed 80 percent 
deductibility on their health insurance. The big-government liberals 
would rather play politics than vigorously attack the waste and fraud 
in our health care system.
  Yesterday, the Republican Leader in the other body again tried to 
appoint conferees for the health reform bill. And again, the liberal 
Democrat leadership blocked him.
  Mr. Speaker, this has to stop. It's time to stop playing politics 
with the American people's health--let's move forward with the 
portability bill.

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