DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

OFFICIAL USE
OMY

Washington, D.C. 20201

April 3, 1981

MEMORANDUM TO THE SECRETARY

THROUGH: U
         E

FROM:     Dale W.  Sop
       Acting Assi

SUBJECT:  Hearing on the Surgeon General (Dr. Koop) Amendment

Attached Is a summary of the hearlng on the Surgeon General amend-
ment.  Although the formal markup will not occur untl.2 Tuesday',
April 7, Mr. Madigan (R-Ill.), Ranking Minority Member, has an
agreement with Mr. Waxman to take our technically revised amend-
ment.  Mr. Waxman has a time limitation for reporting on the
amendment by April 8.  On April 8, the parent bill, H.R. 31,
is to be taken up on the House floor and we do not anticipate
any problems.  Representative Hyde Is working to ensure that a
majority of Members will be present.

Representatives Madigan, Dannemeyer (R-Cal.), and Luken (D-Ohio)
did a very commendable job in supporting our position.

Attachment

cc:  Warren Richardson


DEPARTMENTOFHEALTHlkHUMANSERVICES

Public Health Service

April 3, 1981

Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Health

Washington DC 20201

MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD

SUBJECT:  Hearing on the Helms amendment to H.R. 31, which
     has the Intent of removing the age restriction on the
      appointment of Surgeon General -- referred to in house
      as the Voop amendment ," before the House Energy
      and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and the Environ-
     ment (Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Cal., Chairman). April 3,
      1981.

MEMBERS
PRESENT:  Chairman Waxman, D-Cal.   Mr. Madigan, R-Ill. (Ranking)
      Ms. Mlkulskl, D-Md.     Mr. Dannemeyer, R-Cal.
      Mr. Luken, D-Ohio

REPRESENTING
  THE
DEPARTMENT:

OTHER KEY

Mr. Thomas S. McFee, Assistant Secretary for
Personnel Administration.

WITNESSES:  Dr. William McBeath, American Public Health Assoc.
       Dr. Lorln Kerr, United Mine Workers of America.
    Dr. Margaret Bridwell, Women and Health Roundtabli
              r. Walter J. Lear, National Gay Health Coalition.

HEARING SUMMARY:

This hearing was described by the Subcommittee as a hearing
on the merits of the Helms amendment to make technical changes
in the PHS Act to eliminate the age restriction in the appoint-
ment of Surgeon General.  However, the first four witnesses
along with statements from Rep. Waxman and Mikulski turned it,
as expected, into a hearing on the character of Dr. Everett Koop
and his qualifications to be Surgeon General.

Chairman Waxman began the hearing chastizing the Administration
for it8 lack of Cooperation in supplying witnesses, testimony,
and legislative proposals on the issues, without of course
pointing out that his letter of Invitation was sent to us on
March 31.  He encouraged the witnesses to be critical of Dr.
Koop by asking us what we had to "hide" about Dr. Koop and
why we had to "hide" him from the Subcommittee.
witness,                            The Departmental-
    Mr. McPee, did an excellent job defending our position

that no nomination had been sent forward and It would be
premature to discuss the quallflcatlons of any particular person.


Page Two
Koop Amendment Hearing

Both Rep. Luken and Madigan pointed out that the hearing focus
was on the Helms technical change to the PHS Act and that the
Subcommittee ha8 no authority to review the qualifications
of an individual for this position.  Rep. Madigan, however,
spent some time reading into the record excerpt8 from Dr. Koop's
resume to show that his background was indeed broad and that
the objection to Dr. Koop was philosophical.
Madigan's performance became quite comical a8 he asked the
non-Departmental panel if they had done the many varied things
Dr.  Koop had done. The panelists key objection to Dr. Koop
was phrased In terms of his lack of public health experience.
However, discussions of the background8 of Dr. Koop with Dr.
Richmond'8 showed many similarities and it was obvious that Dr.
Koop would otherwise be viewed as qualified for the postion
If It were not for philosophical differences with such Members
on the subject of abortion and family planning.

On the subject of the hearing, the Helms amendment to H.H. 31,
some confusion seemed to exist among the Member8 as to exactly
what It would do and what was wrong with it.   The flaws in
the Helms work was acknowledged by both the Minority (Madigan)
and our witness, Mr. McFee.  When the hearing was over no
conclusion had been reached on the amendment or the revised
version submitted by the Department.

MEMBERS INTEREST:

Madigan: Said would introduce Department's revised amendment.
     Focused hearing on Koop's qualifications.

Waxman:  Wanted to take time to look at eliminating age discrimina-
     tion throughout the PHS Commis8ioned Corps and not just
     for the Surgeon General. Very critical of Department and
     it8 lack of cooperation on hearing.  Critical of Koopls
     position on gay rights and abortion.

Mikulskl:

Wanted to eliminate all age restrictions for the
&XUniSSiOned Corps but also wanted to write into
statute specific public health background requirements
for the Surgeon General.  Very critical of Koop's
qualifications.

Luken: Thought section in law restricting a Surgeon General to
   a Member of the Commissioned Corps was flawed and should
    be removed along with the age restriction.  Did not comment
   on Koop's qualifications because It was inappropriate for
     House to do 80.


Page Three
Koop Amendment Hearing

DEPARTMENTAL WITNESS:

Assistant Secretary McFee did an excellent job in answering
the questions addressed to him.  He pointed out that there
are only a few hundred individuals within the PHS Commissioned
Corps that can be considered for Surgeon General as the law is
written and thus explained well the need for the amendment
and of Presidential flexibility.  McFee also handled well
the issue of Koop'8 nonappearance by po1ntlng out no nomination
has yet been sent forward by the President.

FUTURE ACTION:

Speaker O'Neil has given the Waxman Committee an April 8th
deadline of acting on the Helms' amendment and referring it
back to the full House.

Marian Troyer, L(H)