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CNN Live Sunday

House of Representatives Gets Ready to Debate Campaign Finance Reform and HMO Reform

Aired July 08, 2001 - 17:27   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: Vacation over for members of Congress. After the long 4th of July recess, the Senate returns to work tomorrow. The House gets back to business on Tuesday.

For representatives, the focus will be on campaign finance reform this week. The McCain-Feingold legislation has already passed the Senate. The House will also be taking up the issue of health care reform after the Senate's passage of a patients' bill of rights last week, but if the bill goes through in its current form, President Bush has threatened to veto it.

Now, for perspective on HMO reform as well as campaign finance reform, we are joined by Gail Chaddock who covers Capitol Hill for "The Christian Science Monitor." She is in our Washington bureau. Ms. Chaddock, welcome, thanks for joining us.

GAIL CHADDOCK, "CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR": Thank you.

FRAZIER: Let's go first to campaign finance reform, where you have mentioned to us earlier that there is an element of race playing in this bill. How so?

CHADDOCK: It's not clear at all whether minority Democrats, especially in the black and Hispanic caucuses, are going to accept a total ban on soft money. Especially after the last election, many of them see voter registration as a critical part of their own strategies, and Democrats especially depend on soft money, unregulated money, to do that.

FRAZIER: In other words, they need the cash to go out and sign the voters up?

CHADDOCK: Exactly.

FRAZIER: I see. Otherwise, it seems like this is a very difficult one to turn down, McCain-Feingold -- or Feingold-McCain now, I guess -- you know, a sort of motherhood and apple pie issue.

CHADDOCK: It has a lot of momentum. Remember, this bill passed the House twice already, in '98 and '99, but in both of those cases, it was with the certainty that the Senate was going to kill it. This year, it's just the opposite. It comes in with momentum from the Senate. House Republicans know that this is really their last chance to make a bill that is acceptable to president, but all sign are that he will sign it.

FRAZIER: He will, after saying for a long time that he would not?

CHADDOCK: He -- all through the campaign, he opposed a ban on soft money. He'd much rather see instant disclosure, and he thinks the Internet is a good way to do that. But the pressure is really mounting, especially in this season where fund-raising has been so overboard. The figures that come out tomorrow for Republican fund- raising are going to break limits that anyone even dreamed up.

FRAZIER: So, a lot of public sentiment then at play here -- as also -- is also the case with this patients' bill of rights, because so many voters out there have had terrible experiences with health maintenance organizations.

CHADDOCK: That's right.

FRAZIER: So, how then could you hope to oppose this bill of rights and still be popular at home?

CHADDOCK: Well, the Republicans in the Senate have tried to make an argument they are going to try harder to make in the House, which is this: yes, there are problems with HMOs, and we are dealing with lots of them -- for example, the ability to talk with your doctor, the ability to get access to an emergency room, the ability to get redress or another hearing on the decision of an insurance company.

But the Republicans are saying, if you pass this much higher liability for employees, it's going to limit the number of people that even have health insurance. So, the good news is, you will be able to sue; the bad news is, you won't have a company that you can sue.

FRAZIER: The thinking there being that if employers realize that they are subject to this kind of lawsuit, that they won't offer health insurance at all?

CHADDOCK: That's the Republican argument, that it's just too risky, especially for small employers.

FRAZIER: Of course, now the American Medical Association has come out in support of this bill.

CHADDOCK: That's right. Doctors, of course, have been at the cutting edge of this for some time, having insurance companies restrict what they can say and the kinds of treatment they can give their patients. They and trial lawyers are very solidly behind this.

It's interesting too to link campaign finance and patients' bill of rights. A lot of Washington groups are analyzing where the contributions are going this season -- and the American Medical Association, which has always supported Republicans to a large extent, has shifted dramatically to Democrats in the last few months.

FRAZIER: That's a dramatic outcome, which you wouldn't expect.

CHADDOCK: It is interesting, yeah.

FRAZIER: One last question before we say goodbye: how quickly are they going to get to these issues?

CHADDOCK: The first one that comes up is campaign finance. That will be Wednesday or Thursday. It really depends on how much of a slugfest that turns out to be. The patients' bill of rights should come up the week of the 15th.

FRAZIER: Slugfest. Sounds like you are looking forward to the week.

CHADDOCK: Well, Congress has never been more interesting to cover. It's just -- it's been a great year for anyone covering the Hill.

FRAZIER: Well, we will be looking forward to this week. Gail Chaddock, from "Christian Science Monitor," thank you for joining us today.

CHADDOCK: Thank you.

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