On the recordFebruary 22, 2010
That's because no one has seen this bill. It's not online. How do we know that? Today the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Mr. Douglas Elmendorf, said, We can't score how much this bill is going to cost. Why? We don't have the legislation. In fact, he said, We don't even have enough details out of this, quote, little 11-page proposal to even say how much the thing is going to cost. So we don't know exactly who the players are that are going to go to this summit in name only on Thursday. We don't have a bill yet that we can negotiate. Yet this is going to impact every American, raise taxes, kill jobs. We don't even know what the bill is. We don't even know who the players are that are going to be in the room. And somehow this is a negotiation when the President has already said through his mouthpiece, his spokesmen, they have already said, well, it doesn't matter if the GOP turns it down, we're going to go our own way anyway. So agree with us. That's your option, Republicans. Agree with us or take a hike. Doesn't that make the American people feel good? I thought the Declaration of Independence said that we rule by the consent of the governed; that we pass laws with what our constituents want. I spoke to Steve King earlier; I spoke to Louie Gohmert earlier. They were both home over these last 2 weeks in their respective districts. Their constituents told them, We don't want this job-killing government takeover of health care. That's what my constituents told me.
