Pete Domenici: “The mandate does not go away. Somebody has to produce it and it has to be charged.”

We are fortunate, and we want to make sure you know that what you get, the work product you get, is bipartisan.

That did not reduce any beneficiaries' benefits, it just cut the amounts that providers were otherwise getting.

We may not know all the answers that you seek of us because we did not have a lot of time to study in detail the more intricate health care issues.

I want to remind the committee again, and I will say it to you, Senator Snowe, remember, our package was put together by Democrats and Republicans, so we do not come here starting with one side or the other.