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Statement of Congressman John D. Dingell
Here are the facts: The House passed a bipartisan Patients’ Bill of Rights last October. Sixty-eight Republicans -- almost one-third of the Republican conference -- voted for the bill. And the first name on that bill is, quite properly, the name of a rock-solid Republican: my friend, Charlie Norwood. The conferees on the patient rights bill were not appointed until after we had celebrated the new millennium. Even then, only one Republican House conferee voted for the bipartisan bill, after having voted every time to weaken it on its way to passage. The House-Senate conference did not meet until March. Here we are in June. We have reached agreement on only two of 22 issues we need to resolve. Only last Sunday did we receive the first supposed offer on the liability provisions of the bill. And you might notice that in the vague and indecipherable offer we received, the Senate could not bring itself to use the word "liability." I desperately want the conference to succeed. I want to join Charlie Norwood and Greg Ganske and a horde of Republicans at the White House signing ceremony. But, I am also despairing that the conference will succeed. That is why I am glad Ted Kennedy plans to give the Senate its first opportunity to vote on a bipartisan bill. We stand here this morning in the spirit of bipartisanship. And the Senators who might be contemplating a vote against this bill should understand that they will not have a right to sue if they are harmed by their vote.
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