    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
    [September 26, 1994]
    [Pages 1632-1633]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Health Care Reform Legislation
    September 26, 1994

        Today Senator George Mitchell reported that he sees no way to pass
    health care reform in this session of Congress. He and the bipartisan
    group of Senators have been doing their best. But he cannot find the 60
    votes needed to overcome the Republican filibuster.
        I am very sorry to say that this means Congress isn't going to
    reform health care this year. But we are not giving up on our mission to
    cover every American and to control health care costs.
        When I addressed Congress a year ago, I said our journey to health
    care reform would have some rough spots in the road. Well, we've had a
    few. But this journey is far, far from over.
        Some Republican leaders keep saying, ``Let's put this off until next
    year.'' I am going to hold them to their word. We have reached out to
    Republicans, and we will continue to do that. But we are going to keep
    up the fight against the interests who spent $300 million to stop health
    care reform. We will fight for campaign finance and lobby reform, so
    these special interests do not continue to obstruct vital legislation,
    and we will return to the fight for health care reform. There is too
    much at stake for all the American people, and we have come too far to
    just walk away now.
        Although we have not achieved our goal this year, Hillary and I are
    proud--and our allies should be proud as well--that we were able to
    bring this debate further than it has ever

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    progressed before. For solid, smart, and important reasons, the ordinary
    working families of America expect their elected leaders to pass health
    care reform:
        --If we don't act, the deficit we have worked so hard to contain
            will balloon again over time.
        --And, most important, millions of Americans still won't be able to
            count on coverage when their families need it. Every month that
            we don't act, 100,000 more Americans will lose their coverage.
            They will join the 5 million Americans who lost theirs in the
            last 5 years.
        For their sake, and for the sake of those who touched us during this
    great journey, we are going to keep up this fight and we will prevail.