On the recordMarch 21, 2010
I want to thank the gentleman from California. Mr. Speaker, I oppose this bill. It does nothing to lower costs or little to lower costs, it raises taxes $540 billion, and it cuts Medicare. Being in business and signing the front of payroll checks, I can tell you that one of the biggest concerns with small businesses is the escalation of health care. It is $10,000 to $12,000 today for a small business in a family. CEO Roundtable is saying if we do nothing about it--and this bill does nothing about it--it will go to $28,000 in the next 10 years. It also increases taxes $540 billion. A lot of those taxes are passed through to small businesses, the LLCs and sole proprietorships. It passes through to them, it hurts working families, and it will not increase jobs. The other thing, as someone that represents an area that has the most seniors in the country, we have real cuts, not just waste, fraud, and abuse, of $500 billion. This will really hurt seniors. I had a senior the other day say, ``All I have is my Social Security and Medicare. It is not perfect, but don't mess with my Medicare.''
