Sam Gejdenson: “I can hardly believe what I have just heard. The Republican Party, which has used its majority in Congress to deny…”

“I can hardly believe what I have just heard. The Republican Party, which has used its majority in Congress to deny people access to education, to deny them access to health care, refuses to take any steps to deal with HMO reform or the seniors, a quarter of a million of which have lost their health insurance, comes here and claims they are doing a good job. Harry Truman could not find a rating low enough for this Congress. We should not leave here until we deal with the education issues, until we deal with the health care issues. You had time to try to give big tobacco a $50 billion tax cut. We ought to spend a few hours in these last days to make sure that senior citizens do not have to be frightened every day about whether or not their HMO is going to drop them. The gentlemen on that side of the aisle get the same kind of constituents as I do. They look to us for help. I do not know what answer you are going to give them. This new freedom that is out there in the health care system means doctors and hospitals and patients have no rights. We have got to change that. The country is going to judge us on that. I hope everybody watching at home calls their Congressman and tells them they want the education package and they want HMO reform. It is the only way to move this group, to let them know that the American people are angry and frustrated, and now is the time to act.”