[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 8984]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HEALTH CARE AND AMERICAN PROSPERITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) is recognized 
during morning hour debates.
  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, this week, the House will make history, 
taking up the first of eight components of the most ambitious and 
forward-looking economic agenda in a generation. For the next 8 weeks, 
the House will debate and pass legislation that will begin the process 
of remaking our economy for the new century.
  Rather than treating individual policy initiatives in a vacuum, the 
American Careers Initiative takes a comprehensive approach, treating 
health care, energy, education, taxes, regulation and lawsuit abuse 
reform as parts of a broader economic agenda.
  For the next 2 months, the House will focus on one of the eight 
components of the Careers Initiative each week, starting tomorrow with 
Health Care Security.
  First, we will pass legislation to reform medical malpractice 
liability laws to protect good doctors, nurses, and hospitals from 
predatory trial lawyers and their abusive lawsuits, lowering the cost 
of health care.
  Second, we will pass the Small Business Health Fairness Act, which 
will allow small businesses to enjoy the same economies of scale now 
used by large corporations, organizations, and labor unions in their 
health plans.
  Third, we will make Flexible Spending Accounts even more flexible, by 
allowing account owners to hold on to some of their unspent health 
savings year to year or even roll some of that money into a new health 
savings account.
  We will do all of these things not simply because they are good 
health care policies, but because they make for greater economic 
policies.
  By reducing the threat of abusive lawsuits, more doctors will 
continue to see patients and thereby help to reduce the crisis in 
health care access. By allowing small businesses to reduce the cost of 
employee health insurance, those businesses will in turn use their 
savings to invest in new products and hire new employees. And by 
expanding the utility of Flexible Spending Accounts, we will promote 
more health care competition and help Americans save money on their 
insurance costs.
  All of these new policies will help break down the barriers between 
the American people and the affordable quality health care that they 
demand. And they will also break down the barriers between them and the 
thriving competitive and prosperous 21st-century economy that they 
deserve.

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