Thomas Daschle: “Mr. President, I wanted the opportunity to talk about why we raised HMO reform today and why it was important that we…”

“Mr. President, I wanted the opportunity to talk about why we raised HMO reform today and why it was important that we have a vote. We had the vote on almost a partisan basis--there were a couple of our Republican colleagues who joined us, but it was largely on a partisan basis. Once again, our efforts to bring forth a bill and a debate on the Patients' Bill of Rights failed. I am disappointed because this may be the last opportunity we have to consider this issue. We have considered a lot of items over the last couple of weeks. I have reported to the distinguished majority leader that I have heard from many of my Members on a daily basis why it is important to bring up HMO reform if we are going to bring up so many other issues. As the sponsor of the legislation, frankly, I feel much the same with regard to the priority this legislation should have.”