Scope and Content Note
The papers of Russell J. Mueller (1942- ) span the years 1971-1998, with the bulk of the material dating from 1993 to 1995. The collection is entirely related to national health care legislation and associated pension, insurance, and taxation issues and policy. The papers are organized in series related to the 103rd and 104th Congresses, and a Miscellany series.
The bulk of the 103rd Congress material documents consideration during 1994-1995 by committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate of universal health care legislation proposed by the Clinton administration. Mueller worked for the Republican minority of the House Committee on Labor and Education, and his papers document opposition to the Clinton health plan. Especially well documented is the markup, or amendment, process in both the full Committee on Education and Labor and its Subcommittee on Labor Management Relations. House members prominent in the process at both full and subcommittee levels include Harris W. Fawell, William F. Goodling, Steve Gunderson, Thomas E. Petri, and Marge Roukema.
The 104th Congress convened following the defeat of the Health Security Act in the previous congress. The Republicans had become the majority party and were in a position to promote their own approach to health care reform legislation, including the ERISA Targeted Health Insurance Reform Act. ERISA, the acronym for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, regulates health and pension plans nationally. Efforts to update that law through the ERISA Targeted Health Insurance Reform Act account for the bulk of the material in the 104th Congress series.
The Miscellany series relates mainly to heath care and pension policy studies and legislative initiatives during the 92nd , 99th, 100th, 101st, and 102nd Congresses.