On the recordMarch 18, 2010
This has been an incredibly open process. And when I contrast it to the way my friends on the other side of the aisle handled a similar bill related to health care, and that was the prescription drug bill, I don't know what they are complaining about. When they brought up the prescription drug bill, this is what it looked like, and it was given to the Rules Committee less than an hour before we were asked to vote on it, and then it was rushed to the floor a total of 27 hours between the time it was brought to the Rules Committee and the time Members were asked to vote on this bill. Contrast that to what we have done on this health insurance reform effort. President Obama began with a health care summit at the beginning of 2009. Republicans and Democrats were invited and participated. Over the past year and a half, the House held nearly 100 hours of hearings and 83 hours of committee markups. We heard from 181 witnesses, both Democrat and Republican. Two hundred thirty-nine amendments were considered, 121 amendments were adopted. You know, this is the big lie that we are hearing from the other side that somehow this has been a closed process.
