On the recordFebruary 1, 2011
I listened to my friend from South Dakota. I was thinking about how long we have been debating health care reform. If we were to repeal the bill we enacted last year, how long would it be before we would be able to get back to serious health care changes? It took us 1 year to debate and pass the bill that was ultimately signed by the President, but it took us 30 years to get to this subject and several administrations, both Democratic and Republican, that offered proposals where we could bring down the cost of health care and make it more available to the people of this country. We brag, and rightly so, that we have the highest quality, most technologically advanced health care in the world in the United States. The problem is, it is out of the reach for too many Americans. It is too expensive. We don't have access to care in too many communities in America. The Congress last year did something about that. We took major steps forward to help the people of our Nation.
