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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release November 3, 1999

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Today's overwhelming vote in the House is an encouraging step toward passage of a strong, enforceable Patients' Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, the House Republican leadership is seeking to defeat the will of the House -- now expressed clearly for a second time -- by refusing to appoint conferees who support this legislation. Despite the Leadership's action, the message of the House vote to the conference could not be more clear: reject the false promise of the Senate-passed bill, and send me the bipartisan measure that delivers the real protections that patients deserve.

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