Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I do wish to thank the Senator from Louisiana, who is managing the bill for her side, for allowing us to go forward with…”

“I do wish to thank the Senator from Louisiana, who is managing the bill for her side, for allowing us to go forward with amendments. I think that is very important, and I do have an amendment that I think will help our small businesses and our States throughout the country. The cosponsors to amendment No. 197 are Senators Hatch, Kyl, Barrasso, Burr, Johanns, Murkowski, Cochran, Moran, and Ensign. We are approaching the 1-year anniversary of health care reform becoming law, and it is important to highlight the reality of what this bill has done to every American family, every patient, every doctor, health care provider, and every small business in this country. One year later, the skyrocketing cost of health care is still the No. 1 concern among our Nation's job creators. Just today, my office heard from a small business in Corpus Christi, TX, that has 34 employees. This company has now gotten the bids for renewal of the policies they had before, and the cheapest option for their health insurance represents a 44-percent increase from last year's cost. They have until April 1 to decide whether to continue to offer their employees health insurance and to try to figure out how they are going to compensate for that increase in cost.…”