Frank Pallone: “the Democrats must declare victory today. The Democrats can take credit for the health insurance reform legislation that…”

“the Democrats must declare victory today. The Democrats can take credit for the health insurance reform legislation that we will be shortly voting on. Thanks to President Clinton's leadership, Senator Kennedy's perseverance and a democratic commitment to health insurance reform, millions of Americans will no longer have to worry about losing their health care in between jobs. In addition to other much needed reforms, many of the poison pill special interest provisions that the Republican leadership insisted on for the last several months were finally dropped. I believe that President Clinton deserves much credit here. He brought health insurance to the forefront once again with his January State of the Union address and pushed Republican leaders from inaction to moving health insurance legislation forwards. In April, many of us remember the Senate passed Senator Kennedy's legislation overwhelmingly, 100 to 0. Unfortunately, Speaker Gingrich and the Republican leaders in the House were more interested in placating the special interests than passing meaningful reform. Day after day on this floor we heard about medical savings accounts, a special interest provision that I believe would increase premiums for many Americans and make health insurance unaffordable. As a result, health insurance reform, for a while, appeared doomed.”