Pete Stark: “I rise in hopeless opposition to a rule that was crafted in the dead of night, and I rise to warn the American public.…”

“I rise in hopeless opposition to a rule that was crafted in the dead of night, and I rise to warn the American public. This is terribly flawed legislation. This bill destroys a fairly good idea. This bill has been introduced and written by former operatives of the health insurance industry. It deregulates supplemental insurance, and provides an opportunity for the worst shylocks in the health insurance industry to steal from the Medicare system and from our seniors. Sitting right over there is a man who, within the past year, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the health insurance industry. He is a Republican Committee on Ways and Means staff person who drafted this bill for the health insurance industry. Mr. Speaker, they are entitled to get payback for the huge contributions they made to the Speaker's campaign funds. That is OK. We know that goes on. However, I am telling the Members, Mr. Speaker, that what has happened here presages doom.”