On the recordMarch 16, 2010
Madam Speaker, my colleagues, the American people, and I think myself would like to see health care reform. There is a lot of room for improvement. There are a lot of people that don't have coverage or access to affordable health care. Most of the people I talk to want their premiums down if they do have insurance. If you talk to Americans, what do they want now? They want jobs, and they want the economy expanded so people can even get their own health care. What they also want is a bipartisan effort on behalf of Congress to get these things done. Instead, what they've got in all of the proposals before us is a proposal to cut Medicare and to dramatically increase taxes. What they wanted was some transparency in this process and openness. Instead, they are getting a closed-door deal and a back-door deal that is not transparent, not open to bipartisanship, imposes taxes on all Americans and, in fact, cuts Medicare for our poorest and oldest citizens. They just don't get it. ____________________





