THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS -- HON. TOM BLILEY (Extensions of Remarks - October 30, 2000)

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HON. TOM BLILEY OF VIRGINIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, October 30, 2000

Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Speaker, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have decided to do a little distortion for Halloween about the record of the Republican-led Congress. Let's make a comparison based on the facts.

As we all remember, the Democrat-led 103rd Congress was a not a success for public health in this country. As Congressional Quarterly noted, ``Clinton'' had presented his health care plan--crafted under the direction of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in a massive, secret and much-criticized task force process ..... the bill was immensely complex.... The committee system, designed to resolve both the policy and political problems of legislation, broke down entirely ..... For all their work, not one committee had managed to write a health care bill that the leadership was willing to bring to the floor. .....''

With the Democrat leadership resorting to scare tactics in the past few days, it might bode well for the American people to remember their record

The Republican-led Congress has been active and provided real public health improvements for the American people. In the prior two Congresses, we have empowered states and localities to meet the health care and nutritional needs of two-income residents, and provided relief to those hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. We provided portability so working Americans can change jobs without risking the loss of their health care insurance due to a preexisting condition. This was a fundamental change that the Democrats weren't able to get done on their watch.

Our Republican led Congress has also reined in health care fraud and abuse, eliminated tax code discrimination against millions of small businesses and the self-employed and provided tax relief for the long-term health care needs of terminally ill patients and their families. We enhanced Americans' access to safe, abundant, and affordable food and water. In the Food and Drug Modernization Act of 1997, we enacted measures which have significantly cut down the waiting time at the FDA for approval of new medicines. As a result, many patients will have access to life saving drugs much quicker. Our Republican Congress also passed landmark legislation in 1997 that established the Medicare+Choice Program and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Under our legislation, low-income children will have expanded access to quality health care coverage. Democrats talked about that for years; it took a Republican Congress to make it happen.

We enhanced the Birth Defects Prevention Program, reauthorized the National Bone Marrow Registry, reauthorized Mammography Quality Standards, and enhanced Women's Health Research and Prevention.

That's a pretty strong record for public health.

Now let's look at the 106th Congress. Here are a number of public health provisions that are already enacted into law: the Nursing Home Resident Protection Amendments, and the Medicare, Medicaid, & SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act. Under this Act--

Hospitals received an additional $7.3 billion;

Skilled nursing facilities received over $2 billion;

Home health agencies received an additional $1.3 billion;

Health plans participating in the Medicare+Choice program received an additional $1.9 billion;

Nearly $1 billion in additional monies were provided for the Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs; and,

$150 million was provided to ensure that organ transplant recipients could continue to receive access to immunosuppressive drugs.

We also enacted into law the Health Research and Quality Act, and the Work Incentives Improvement Act. This law was sponsored by Mr. LAZIO and expands the availability of health care coverage for workers with disabilities. Add to this list the Date-Rape Prevention Drug Act and the Children's Health Act of 2000, which increases and intensifies research on and programs for autism, juvenile diabetes, asthma, prevention of birth defects, epilepsy, infant health, pediatric research, skeletal malignancies, adoption awareness, healthy start, traumatic injuries and autoimmune diseases. This Act also reauthorizes the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and improves drug addiction treatment programs.

Add to this list the Ryan White CARE Act of 2000, which provides funding for those suffering with AIDS, the Breast and Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act, and the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000.

Those bills that have already been enacted are a solid record but we have even more that are sent or being sent to the President. This includes the Public Health Improvements Act. This bill was sent to the President containing the following provisions which are bipartisan efforts:

Public Health Threats and Emergencies Act;

Clinical Research Enhancement Act;

Twenty-First Century Research Laboratories Act;

Cardiac Arrest Survival Act;

Rural Access to Emergency Devices Act;

Lupus Research and Care Act;

Prostate Cancer Research and Protection Act;

Organ Procurement Organization Certification Act;

Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinical Research and Training; and,

Alzheimer's Disease Clinical Research and Training.

We are also sending to the President the Medicare, Medicaid, and S-CHIP Benefits Improvement & Protection Act. This Act increases preventive benefits, including glaucoma screening, medical nutrition therapy, colonoscopy, and biennial pap smears, limits beneficiary exposure to hospital outpatient charges, increases payments to providers under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, adjusts the allocation formula under the State Children Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and provides $475 million for the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Trust Fund.

These are real and meaningful bipartisan accomplishments.

There are other important bills we have not been able to reach consensus on. That should not be an excuse for dismissing the many public health accomplishments of the Republican-led Congress. Nor should we easily forget the failure of the Hillary-care Congress.

We have heard that Republicans are not for a real patients bill of rights. That is false. Indeed, the distortion from AL GORE and the White House is the problem. Republicans have voted for legislation both to increase access to insurance and to provide for HMO reform. The Vice President erroneously claimed in his last debate that Republicans opposed an enforceable, independent external review board. He also claimed that Republicans opposed emergency room and access to specialists provisions. That is nonsense and distorts our record.

Republicans have voted for legislation that provides an enforceable independent external review board for benefits denials. This will make sure health care professionals make
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medical decisions and that we don't resort to unnecessary litigation.

Republicans have also supported the patient protections which included the emergency room issue and access to specialist issues Mr. GORE mentioned. We have basic bipartisan agreement on these issues and could easily have such legislation alone.

Let's look at the remaining disagreements. The White House and the trial lawyers want uncapped liability and litigation. Employers around the country are opposed to these features of Norwood-Dingell because they would increase litigation, drive up costs, and would force many employers to drop health insurance. That is the opposite of what we want.

We are also concerned about interfering with State patient protection programs. We need to make sure that States can implement their own programs where they want to without federal interference and disruption to programs that are already in place. Norwood-Dingell does not address this problem and places a huge implementation burden on the Federal government. We need to find a middle road on this.

Finally, we cannot understand the failure of the White House and Democrat leadership to support provisions which provide choice, access and tax deductions to help increase the number of people with health insurance. There are over 40 million uninsured people in America. The Republican-led Congress has passed serious proposals to address this problem and they are being ignored by the White House.

When Democrats sent a letter to Senator NICKLES in early summer saying that they would no longer meet with him in private conference, that was not a good sign. Obviously, you can't negotiate through the press and you can't negotiate if you do not meet.

The plain fact is that the Republican-led Congresses have been energetic, productive, and responsible on public health. The many bipartisan accomplishments are a tribute to both Democrat and Republicans. We have enacted legislation that improves Americans' access to quality health care. Under our proposals, our country's commitment to basic medical research has been expanded and our promises to provide high quality to seniors and the most vulnerable in our society kept. Distortion of this record is not helpful and will only risk jeopardizing future gains.
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