Ron Wyden

Nothing is more important, Mr. Secretary, to getting our economy back on track than gaining public confidence.

There is such a large amount of money there in the Federal tax rules that you do free up a substantial amount for expanding coverage.

I think as you get into this, there are really kind of three parts to this.

The President made two pledges in his campaign that it seems to me in the health area bring Democrats and Republicans together.

We ran the numbers, Dr. Elmendorf, with the CBO figures. You all indicated that we are going to spend $2.5 trillion this year on health care.

It is important to be cautious about the idea of going out in this health reform debate and spending vast sums of new money right out of the gate.

I think your last point is really one to wrap up on.

Market economics has always been about chicken-and-egg. You make investment decisions, and if they are the right ones, promising things happen.

I just say respectfully I hope that you and your colleagues who are the best in the business will come up with more aggressive, more immediate approaches.

The Obama administration, to its credit--Senator Conrad and I have been hearing encouraging news on this point--wants to do that

You all gave $700 billion--first installment $350 billion, perhaps the vote tonight on $350 million more--to these financial institutions.

I want to commend you and Senator Gregg on putting together this panel.

I was thrilled that Chairman Baucus, who has done very good work on this health reform issue, has also put out in his White Paper, a very constructive document on health reform.

None of that comes close to the kind of market-making, incentive-changing activity that you will see by reforming the Tax Code.

CBO essentially outlines some options like that.

I mean, certainly if you are well off, there ought to be some copays.

Democrats have fought--and, in my view, correctly so--to get everybody covered. It is the moral thing to do, and it is also the economic thing to do.

It is absolutely key that it be changed because it rewards inefficiency and is regressive in nature.

CBO has correctly identified health care spending as the biggest driver in long-term Federal spending growth.

I thank my friend, and I always miss hearing Senator Whitehouse on the budget, and I will catch up.

We have got a lot of heavy lifting left to do.

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