NEWS FROM THE HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt October 6, 2000 H-204, U.S. Capitol http://democraticleader.gov/ Gephardt Statement on Hate Crimes and Other Pending Legislation "In the last 24 hours, we've had three pieces of evidence that the Republican leadership is not interested in acting on the priorities of the American people. In a flurry of legislative maneuvering, Republicans have taken strong, sensible, bipartisan bills and they have tried to kill those bills by putting forward weak, watered-down versions that do nothing for the American people. "Last night, Republican conferees took a bipartisan, sensible hate crimes bill and they eliminated it from the Department of Defense Authorization bill. Republicans seem determined to file a DOD bill that is stripped of hate crimes, and their actions in the last 24 hours are an affront not only to the American people, but to a clear majority in the Congress. "Republicans defied the will of both Houses of Congress, denied the American people a strong, sensible bill that would have given law enforcement officers the enhanced tools they need to deal with horrible hate crimes, and they prevented the country from sending a strong signal that we as a society will not tolerate crimes committed against people simply because of who they are. "This is a bipartisan bill. The President has supported it for years, the American people support it in overwhelming numbers, and both the House and the Senate have voted in bipartisan fashion to include hate crimes in the Department of Defense Authorization bill. "I will continue to fight with Senator Daschle, President Clinton, and with my colleagues and all Americans who support this common-sense law, and I still hope that we can pass this bill this year and accomplish something meaningful for the American people. "Now, we've also had two other pieces of news in the last 24 hours that points to a pattern; and, sadly, the story with re-importation and with a Patients' Bill of Rights is similar to hate crimes. First, I am deeply disappointed that the Republican leadership has decided to defy the will of the American people and short-circuit a bipartisan effort to craft effective re-importation legislation that might have lowered drug prices for millions of Americans. Instead, Republicans went behind closed doors and came up with an ineffective, partisan half-measure that serves the needs of the pharmaceutical companies at the expense of the American people. "The Republican measure is full of loopholes that will allow pharmaceutical companies to get around the new law. It also sunsets after 5 years, so even if seniors did begin to see lower drug prices as a result of this bill, that benefit will not last. Republicans have once again chosen the side of special interests over the people. Democrats believe that all seniors should have permanent, reliable help with the high costs of prescription drugs, and we support effective, permanent re-importation legislation as a step in that direction. But the most important way to give seniors the help they need is to enact an affordable, reliable, universal Medicare prescription benefit. Republicans have blocked that measure, refusing, even, to let us bring it up on the floor for a vote. Their action on re-importation seems designed to distract us from the much larger issues at hand. "I am just as troubled by a last-minute effort on a Patients' Bill of Rights. Here, once again, they have decided to abandon a bipartisan bill and to seek political cover instead. Today, Republicans proposed a weak Patients' Bill of Rights that fails to give patients the protections they need from their HMO companies. The real Patients' Bill of Rights passed the House one year ago tomorrow by a strong bipartisan margin, and it remains the only bill that will actually do something meaningful for millions of Americans. "Democrats will continue to fight for good, common-sense, bipartisan bills that the American people want and that bipartisan majorities in Congress support: hate crimes--a strong Patients Bill of Rights-permanent re-importation legislation-and a Medicare prescription benefit that will be always be there for seniors. We will continue to work with all our colleagues to accomplish something meaningful in the few short days we have left." ##### Contact: Laura Nichols/Sue Harvey (202) 225-0100