On the recordMarch 25, 2010
I think it's time for us to take a deep breath, take a timeout and go home and listen, Mr. Speaker. So I asked the Rules Committee this evening to not move this package tonight, but let us go home for the next 2 weeks and then come back week after next or week after 2 weeks and actually fix what needs to be fixed. I listened when my chairman, Mr. Waxman of California, talked about the reconciliation package before us fixes the Nebraska problem. Well, the way they fix it, Mr. Speaker, is by giving every other State the same sweet deal they gave to Nebraska but only for 4 years. After 2014, that deal goes away for Nebraska and every other State. I don't think that's much of a fix. No one on the majority side, Mr. Speaker, has talked about the Medicaid trap. When this fully kicks in in 2014, everybody that's eligible for Medicaid in the country, that is below 133 percent of poverty, has to be in Medicaid and that's their only choice. They cannot be in a private sector plan. And obviously we all know they don't have the option of not taking the coverage. Some of us think that that may be unconstitutional. Even if it's not unconstitutional, I don't think it's fair to our low-income Americans to say that the only health insurance plan you can have is Medicaid. We have talked about the preexisting conditions, Mr. Speaker. This bill does require that preexisting conditions be covered. That's a good thing, not a bad thing. But it's not funded.
