Charles W. Stenholm: “This is not a budget-busting amendment. We fully expect the conferees to live within the $400 billion. We have a…”

“This is not a budget-busting amendment. We fully expect the conferees to live within the $400 billion. We have a different idea of the prioritization than what the majority party has, and we are just expressing that today. And also, when the House has a chance to vote, Members on both sides can see whether or not the priorities we believe are the most important should be considered by the conferees. And also with the emphasis on government-run, let me remind my friend from Texas that it is only if the private system fails in rural America, will we have a return to a Medicare plan. Only if it fails. We worry because of the past history of private plans in rural America. We worry that they may not work, and we think it would be irresponsible for us not to provide a fallback. That is our opinion. It is not government-mandated, and these little speech lines that keep flowing out, this is a different idea, a different opinion, and we just expressed it today.”