[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20772]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE COSTS

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, average Americans confronting the exploding 
cost of health care today are continuing to feel the pain, and the 
Republican leadership of this body who can ease that pain is doing 
nothing.
  We know now that in the past 4 years the cost of health care for the 
average worker has increased three times faster than the increase in 
wages. More than 14 million Americans now spend more than one-quarter 
of their paycheck on health care. Yet House Republican leadership 
offers no promise of a solution.
  These numbers confirm what we hear every day from workers being 
forced into unconscionable choices. What do we have to offer a parent 
who must choose between housing and health care? What solution can we 
promise business owners, particularly small business owners, who must 
tell employees that they will no longer cover their health benefits?
  On one of the most fundamental crises of our time the leadership of 
Congress is deafly silent. The responsibility, Mr. Speaker, resides 
here. If the Republican leadership of this House and the President of 
the United States are not committed to solving this problem, one that 
costs Americans so much of their paycheck, what excuse can they offer 
working Americans?
  The Republican majority and the President can choose to make health 
care a priority. I wonder how much longer American workers can afford 
to wait for leadership.

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