John Dingell

Mr. DINGELL

Mr. DINGELL. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) a member of the Committee on Banking and Financial Services.

Mr. DINGELL. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey).

Mr. DINGELL. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis). (Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank). (Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks, and include extraneous material.)

Mr. DINGELL

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to myself 1 minute. (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema), who has displayed extraordinary courage and diligence and vigor throughout this matter.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I want to express great pleasure at the way that this debate has been conducted. I also want to point out that we are now talking about what our conferees are going to do for the House as a part of their duties. The traditions of the House say that the conferees should be appointed by the Speaker, and the rules say so, too, to carry out the purposes of the House bill and to be supporters of the House bill. The traditions of the House say that the conferees should be supporters of the House bill. Quite honestly, 275 of our Members say that they should be the supporters of the House bill, as do millions of Americans in all walks of life say that we should be supporting the House bill, because that is the bill that the people want. Having said these things, we do not know who the conferees are going to be. We do not know what the Senate is going to do. But we can be pretty assured, on the basis of what we have seen, that we may not see either the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) or the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske) or any of the other supporters on the Republican side being named as conferees on this bill. If that is true, it will tell us at the time we vote that we desperately have needed this bill. It is necessary that we should have had the instructions that we are now seeking to give to enable us to see that the conferees carry out the will of the House.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3\1/4\ minutes, the balance of the time, to the distinguished gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) for purposes of closing.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Stark). (Mr. STARK asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps).

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this motion to instruct.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson).

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure for me to yield 4 minutes to the next speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), a very distinguished, very courageous, very energetic man who has provided enormous leadership in this matter, and my good friend. (Mr. NORWOOD asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the leader of the minority, and my good friend. (Mr. GEPHARDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ford).

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, how much time remains?

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown).

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske), who has worked very, very hard on this matter.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Eshoo).

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, we will be shortly appointing conferees to the bipartisan Managed Care Improvements Act. Earlier this month, the House by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 275-151 approved a strong bill to protect patients' rights. Before voting on final passage, the House rejected three substitutes. We will shortly be going to conference with the Senate. It will be noted that a number of the conferees appointed by the Senate and perhaps by the Speaker may not have shared the position of the House and in fact have voted against the bill. That is why this bipartisan motion to instruct is so important. It is a reminder to our conferees that the House voted for strong protections for patients and rejected weaker ones. This instructs the conferees to support the position of the House. Specifically, it is a proposal that covers all health plans, not just a limited few. We want a bill that lets the doctors decide what is in the best interest of the patient, not health insurance bureaucrats. We want a bill that has a strong independent review of HMO decisions. We want a bill that is going to address the unfortunate case when your HMO causes an injury or wrongful death, that the HMO will be responsible like any other business in America. The Senate bill does none of these things. The motion which I am offering jointly with the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) and the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske) reminds our House conferee Members to insist on strong patient protections. The motion is also fiscally responsible. It instructs House conferees to assure that the bill will be fully paid for. The President said that he will not sign a bill which is not fully paid for. The House can do no less than to see to it that the bill we send to the President is fully paid for, as he insists. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DINGELL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. (Mr. DINGELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)