[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 44 (Monday, November 8, 1999)]
[Page 2242]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Patients' Bill of Rights Legislation

November 3, 1999

    Today's overwhelming vote in the House is an encouraging step toward 
passage of a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights. 
Unfortunately, the House Republican leadership is seeking to defeat the 
will of the House--now expressed clearly for a second time--by refusing 
to appoint conferees who support this legislation. Despite the 
leadership's action, the message of the House vote to the conference 
could not be more clear: Reject the false promise of the Senate-passed 
bill and send me the bipartisan measure that delivers the real 
protections that patients deserve.