[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 161 (Thursday, December 15, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H11871-H11872]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      U.S. AUTO INDUSTRY SUPPORTS UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE--IN CANADA

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take my 
Special Order at this time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Madam Speaker, as we spend our time here talking about 
Christmas and the war on Christmas, I think we have missed the whole 
point. At least the Republicans have.
  My passion since I arrived in Congress has been that every American 
should have access to affordable health care coverage. It should be a 
right, not a privilege as it is today. Over 45 million Americans have 
no coverage at all, and millions more cannot afford to get sick because 
of inadequate or expensive coverage.
  Democrats have made health care a top priority, but the Republicans 
have not. Christmas trees seem to be more in their order. I have 
repeatedly introduced H.R. 1200, universal health care legislation. My 
friend and colleague John Dingell has done the same. My colleague John 
Conyers has done the same. We have many proposals all approaching a 
universal solution to a problem for this country.
  Dozens of Democrats have been willing to sign on to this bill. But 
the majority, the Republicans, have talked but done absolutely nothing. 
Instead, they have used every opportunity to disparage government and 
claim that solutions to everything always end in the words 
``incorporated,'' ``privatized.'' Whether it is Social Security or 
Medicare or drugs or whatever, it always has got to be private.
  Republicans claim government, the one they control, is incapable of 
addressing America's needs. They proved it down in Louisiana. They 
proved it themselves. Their tortured logic says that we can wage war, 
but we cannot solve the health care crisis.
  Pick up the newspaper, and the conclusion is inescapable. There are 
no more tomorrows. The health care crisis is real and a present danger 
to the American people and the U.S. economy, much more than this war on 
terror.
  Especially hard hit is the manufacturing sector. Employees throughout 
the country are bracing for plant closings or wage and benefit cuts. We 
came out here and did pensions again today. We continue to do it to the 
workers.
  Companies like General Motors and Ford cite the cost of providing 
health care coverage as a major factor in their current financial 
crises. So quietly behind the scenes here on Capitol Hill, the domestic 
auto industry has been talking to lawmakers about a bailout. They are 
looking for tens of billions of dollars next year and say it is 
required to save the auto industry and thousands of family wage jobs.
  I am a strong supporter of America's labor movement and a strong 
supporter of family wage jobs. And if a company treats its employees 
right, I strongly support them as well. That might make me a candidate 
for supporting an auto bailout. But it really makes me wonder why 
Republicans will not join Democrats and fight for its family from 
within, a health care system that is destroying people, business, and 
our way of life.
  Republicans say, let the market fix it. Well, we have done that. And 
the special interests have said stay out of it because people like me 
want this Nation to guarantee health coverage for everybody. Lobbyists 
make a living in this town out of spinning the tale of us against them 
and how we have to do it individually, and we cannot do it as a 
country.
  Well, I will enter into the Record a letter that sets the record 
straight and give us a chance to finally confront America's health care 
crisis. This letter was sent separately to the Canadian government by 
the Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Daimler Chrysler and the union 
representing auto workers in late 2002.
  The so-called big three U.S. car companies put their full support 
behind publicly, publicly, funded health care in Canada. Let me read 
some excerpts. ``Canada's publicly funded health care system provides 
essential and affordable health care services for all Canadians, 
regardless of their income. For both employers and workers in the auto 
industry, it is vitally important that the publicly funded health care 
system be preserved and renewed.''
  The letter sent by GM, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler, concludes: ``In 
addition to reinforcing the quality and accessibility of health care 
for all Canadians, these measures would also help to ensure the long-
run success of the Canadian auto industry.'' There is a business reason 
to do it. That is the U.S. auto industry acting outside the United 
States. It is time for them to act inside the United States and for us 
to act.
  H.R. 1200 provides universal health care with guidelines for Federal 
Government decisions by local government and health care by the private 
sector.
  My Democratic friends have other ideas. There is more than one idea 
how to do this. We ought to get them on the table. It is time for the 
Republican majority to make health care a priority. It is time for the 
auto industry to support a solution that is morally responsible and 
economically urgent: health care. Every American has a right.
  Madam Speaker, we have been talking about it, and we have not done 
anything. It is it time to stop talking about Christmas trees and start 
talking about health care for all Americans.
                                               September 10, 2002.
       Canada's publicly funded health care system provides 
     essential and affordable health care services for all 
     Canadians, regardless of their income. Publicly funded health 
     care also enhances Canada's economic performance in several 
     important ways.
       The auto industry is Canada's most important export 
     industry; it directly employs over 150,000 Canadians in high-
     wage jobs, supports hundreds of thousands of other spin-off 
     jobs, produces $90 billion worth of shipments per year, and 
     generates billions of dollars in tax revenues for all levels 
     of government in Canada. The success of this industry has 
     been crucial to Canada's economic progress over the past 
     decade. Canada's health care system has been an important 
     ingredient in the auto industry's performance.
       Workers in the auto industry, and in the many manufacturing 
     and service industries which supply automakers, benefit 
     directly from access to public health care services. Thanks 
     to this system, they are healthier and more productive. 
     Employers in the auto industry, meanwhile, enjoy significant 
     total labour cost savings because most health care services 
     are supplied through public programs (rather than through 
     private insurance plans).
       The public health care system significantly reduces total 
     labour costs for automobile manufacturing firms, compared to 
     the cost of equivalent private insurance services purchased 
     by U.S.-based automakers; these health insurance savings can 
     amount to several dollars per hour of labour worked. Publicly 
     funded health care thus accounts for a significant portion of 
     Canada's overall labour cost advantage in auto assembly, 
     versus the U.S., which in turn has been a significant factor 
     in maintaining and attracting new auto investment to Canada.
       Canada's publicly funded health care system is now facing 
     demographic, technological, and fiscal pressures. The erosion 
     of publicly funded health care through measures such as the 
     delisting of currently-covered services, the imposition of 
     user fees, the failure of the public system to keep up with 
     the changing nature of health care, and new costs such as 
     prescription drugs and home-care, will impose significant 
     costs on automotive employers and undermine the 
     attractiveness of Canada as a site for new automotive 
     investment.

[[Page H11872]]

       For both employers and workers in the auto industry, it is 
     vitally important that the publicly funded health care system 
     be preserved and renewed, on the existing principles of 
     universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness, 
     and public administration. The system needs a secure multi-
     year funding base from government, and must be expanded to 
     cover an updated range of services (including prescription 
     drugs and home care services) that reflects both the evolving 
     nature of medical science and the emerging needs of our 
     population.
       To this end, Ford Motor Company and CAW-Canada jointly urge 
     the federal and provincial governments to take appropriate 
     actions to preserve the public health care system, secure its 
     funding base, and modernize the range of services which it 
     covers. In addition to reinforcing the quality and 
     accessibility of health care for Canadians, these measures 
     would also help to ensure the long-run success of Canada's 
     auto industry.
     Alain Batty,
     President and Chief Executive Officer, Ford Motor Company of 
                                                  Canada, Limited.
     Basil ``Buzz'' Hargrove,
                                   National President, CAW-Canada.

     

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