Ed Royce: “When we picked up the headlines of The Washington Post today, it says, ``Pelosi may try to pass health bill without…”

“When we picked up the headlines of The Washington Post today, it says, ``Pelosi may try to pass health bill without vote.'' And through nothing more than budgetary gimmicks, like counting half a trillion dollars reserved for Medicare twice, the Speaker claims it's going to pencil out. I think the American people know better. They understand that you cannot create a massive new entitlement program behind closed doors and expect our dire financial situation, our dire fiscal predicament in this country to do anything except compound. Instead of addressing the actual drivers of rising health care costs, like escalating legal liability cost, and structural flaws in the way insurance is regulated, this bill compounds the problem and shifts the cost curve up, not down. Faced with trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, now is the time to take a step back and look for incremental reforms that can increase affordability for millions of Americans without saddling future generations with this unpayable tab. The American people know that when so-called health care reform includes tax hikes, less freedom and more government control, it's a government takeover of health care.”