GOP Pummels Kennedy Health Care Reform Proposal : Congress: Republicans on Senate panel blast bill as a plan for socialized medicine. Measure contains key parts of Clinton’s agenda.

WASHINGTON —  Senate Republicans unleashed a furious assault Wednesday on a health care reform bill crafted by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) that is patterned closely after President Clinton’s proposal.

Armed with more than 91 amendments that would virtually dismantle the bill, all but one Republican member of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee contended that Kennedy’s proposals would lead to a massive federal intrusion into the nation’s health care system.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) called Kennedy’s measure “a pasteurized version of the Clinton health plan for socialized medicine.” And Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.), the ranking GOP member of the panel, characterized it as “a casserole made from the leftovers of the previous evening’s meal--the ingredients are mixed up differently, but they are still all the same.”

Kennedy, the committee chairman, had drafted the legislation with the help of the White House and Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) in hopes of overcoming some Republican concerns about the direction of Clinton’s health care reform effort.

He also had hoped that his panel might be able to take control of the health care reform debate by being the first--and perhaps only--committee to vote on a bill before the Administration’s Memorial Day deadline. Five congressional committees have some jurisdiction over health care reform.

While the Labor and Human Resources Committee’s 10 Democrats--along with one Republican supporter, Sen. James M. Jeffords of Vermont--can out-vote the six other Republicans, Kennedy had hoped for other GOP converts who could be counted on for support later in the process.

But the acrimonious tone of the day’s debate indicated the difficulty he faces in winning over the Republicans. The session convened at 8 a.m. but quickly became mired in florid rhetoric and the committee adjourned without taking any votes. It will resume deliberations today.

Kennedy contended that he is not discouraged by the withering GOP attack. Yet at one point, he turned to Republicans with a rueful smile and said with obvious understatement: “We might have some difficulty persuading some of you folks.”

Jeffords was the only Republican who had positive words for Kennedy’s bill, calling it “a good start” and saying that its “central features must be retained.”

The bill contains the key principles of the President’s agenda, including the controversial employer mandate, albeit in a scaled-back fashion. The mandate, which would require employers to pay at least part of their employees’ health premiums, is designed to achieve the President’s goal of health care coverage for all Americans.

Kennedy would cap a firm’s overall liability at 12% of payroll and an individual’s contributions at 3.9% of income. He would also exempt businesses employing five workers or less, although they would be required to make a 2%-of-payroll contribution to a pool to help subsidize coverage of the needy.

His bill also would eliminate the mandatory insurance-purchasing alliances that Clinton has proposed.

In a more promising development for the Clinton Administration, Sen. John B. Breaux (D-La.) signaled to Democratic colleagues at a luncheon Tuesday that he might be willing to reconsider his opposition to the employer mandate. Breaux, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, has co-sponsored a bill written by Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) that excludes the provision.

Breaux also produced a document outlining some compromises that he said could make the mandate less onerous to small businesses--largely by exempting the smallest firms, congressional sources said.

Breaux suggested that firms with 10 or fewer employers might be exempted, while companies with 10 to 20 employees might be permitted to choose either to provide insurance or pay an “assessment.” That fee could be set at 1% of payroll for firms with 11 to 15 workers and 2% for firms with 16 to 20 employees.

Employers with between 21 and 1,000 workers would be subject only to the mandate, while those with 1,000 or more employees would be subject to both the employer mandate and the 1% tax.

“This potentially breaks the logjam in the Senate Finance Committee,” said one congressional analyst. “This could get the employer mandate out of that committee. It’s not a done deal, but it’s a cracking of the ice.”

On the House side, the Ways and Means Committee also began meeting Wednesday to debate health care reform, but it is not expected to begin voting on the particulars until after Memorial Day.

Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), like Kennedy, expressed hope of bipartisan action on health care reform.