Frank Pallone: “I guess I started out today by saying that I really think that we know what has to be done here now. We have talked…”

“I guess I started out today by saying that I really think that we know what has to be done here now. We have talked about this, and the President came forward with a Bill of Rights. Some of the Republicans have sponsored legislation. As we mentioned before, our Democratic health care task force has put forth a set of principles which are going to be put forward in a managed care consumer protection bill that will be introduced very shortly that we are going to be talking about and that we believe we have support for amongst the Senators as well as the White House in favor of this legislation. But what really needs to be done is, we need to push the Republican leadership to bring this managed care reform to the floor of the House, to bring it up in the relevant committees, to push that it come to the floor of the House, and do the same in the Senate. We do not have a lot of time here between now and the end of this legislative year. If we do not act quickly, and after all the Republicans are in charge of the process, they are in the majority; they are the ones that are going to decide what can come to the floor. If they do not bring this up and allow for debate and allow for a vote, then it is not going to happen.”