Pete Stark: “I believe that the Enron employee would not have insurance. He would have some money in that health savings account, but…”

“I believe that the Enron employee would not have insurance. He would have some money in that health savings account, but when Enron folded up, the insurance went along with Enron. He could go into the private market and try and buy something. I would just like to repeat, if I may, that this really does nothing to cover the uninsured. So, if this is Cover the Uninsured Week, we are burning up a couple of valuable hours that we could be discussing how to cover the uninsured with this bill. The principal disagreement that we had with the bill is that it is not paid for, and we will offer, subsequently to closing this debate, a substitute where we pay for it in very patriotic and simple ways. It is not a lot of money but it is a principle that we Democrats have long adhered to, and that is, that we ought to pay for the wonderful things that are available to us in this country and not put the burden on our children and grandchildren.”