On the recordJanuary 6, 2011
I thank the gentleman for yielding and also for engaging in this dialogue with other Members about the challenge that we're facing to reduce this country's deficit spending and reduce the accumulating debt and at the same time to make certain that quality, affordable health care are available to all of our citizens. As the gentleman has pointed out very, very ably, those two challenges are intricately related. In fact, one of the main reasons for supporting health insurance reform is because we simply must reduce our deficit spending and must reduce this country's debt. One of the main contributors to our country's escalating debt is the kind of increasing of health care costs that we have seen in recent years. It's one of the greatest threats to families, to businesses, to the overall economy. Health care has become the fastest growing component of the Federal budget, as the gentleman well knows. Last year, health care accounted for 17 percent of GDP. That's more than twice the average of other developed nations. Now, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act corrects the failures of the current system without compromising the many strengths that we know that it has. And so it's very disconcerting here in this first week of the new Congress to see our Republican colleagues not only going after the protections in the health care law, but also almost immediately abandoning their commitment to fiscal discipline.
