On the recordMarch 30, 2011
I certainly appreciate what Dr./ Senator Barrasso, from Wyoming, does for us on a regular basis. As one of the few physicians in our body--he is one of the two--he tells us the things that are happening in this health care reform bill that are hurting our health care system, hurting the quality of health care in our country, at a time when we need to assure senior citizens that Medicare cuts will not take effect. We certainly want our small businesses to hire people rather than stop at 50 because then they are going to start getting fined for not giving the government-prescribed health care that is in the health care reform act that was passed last year. What I am doing in my amendment, as one of those pending in the bill before us, is saying: Stop. We have now had two Federal courts--one from Virginia, one from Florida--that have said this law is unconstitutional. Yet the administration is continuing to implement the law, even though it has certainly now been called into question. I am most affected by the number of States that are having to do the same thing. Most of our State legislatures are in session right now. Every one of them--actually, I think approximately 44 States out of 50--has a budget shortfall. Yet our States are having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to implement a law that may be declared unconstitutional. Some States have said we are not going to implement it.…
