Thomas Daschle: “I am delighted to cast my vote for this bill--it is an important first step in ensuring health security for working…”

“I am delighted to cast my vote for this bill--it is an important first step in ensuring health security for working Americans. Health security has always been, and always will be, a Democratic priority. It is at the top of our agenda, and we won't give up until every American has access to meaningful, affordable coverage. Unfortunately, even this small step was controversial. Senator Dole promised 2 years ago that health reform would be the first thing Republicans would focus on if they controlled Congress. As it turns out, health reform was nearly the last thing they focused on. And only because we insisted they finally act. This bill was approved unanimously in the Senate Labor Committee exactly 1 year ago on August 2, 1995. But for 8 months, secret Republican ``holds'' delayed it. When the bill finally reached the Senate floor on April 18 1996, the Republican leadership tried to attach to the bill poison pills, like MSA's to kill it. Then, 4 more months passed as the Republican leadership tried to stack the conference committee to ensure that MSA's were included in the final bill. In the meantime, the Republican leadership tried to water down the bill's portability provisions to guarantee that health insurance can be carried from job to job. But they did not succeed. I am delighted and relieved these ``delay and destroy'' tactics were finally abandoned and that Republicans joined us in fixing the most badly broken parts of health system.”