Jay Rockefeller: “I am pleased to join the new Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle, along with Senator Kennedy, Reid, Mikulski, and Dodd…”

“I am pleased to join the new Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle, along with Senator Kennedy, Reid, Mikulski, and Dodd in sponsoring a health care bill that would begin to give millions of Americans improved health security. While it should not come as a surprise to any of my colleagues that my preference would be to give all Americans guaranteed health care security, this bill includes important steps that will provide health security to some Americans through insurance reforms and, importantly, prioritizes health coverage for children and temporary assistance for workers in between jobs. S. 7 includes the essential building blocks for building a secure health care system. Moving ahead on health care reform was identified by Senate Republicans as one of their top seven legislative priorities for the 104th Congress prior to last November's election. Each and every major provision in S. 7 was included in every serious health care reform proposal introduced by both Democrats and Republicans over the past 2 years. I believe this bill reflects the consensus that emerged last year on where and how to get started on reforming our health care system. This past November voters did not tell Congress to put health care reform on the back burner. An election night survey found that health reform was identified by voters as a top priority issue for this Congress.”