On the recordMarch 3, 2011
This new national takeover of health care is just a mess in so many ways. Two of them we highlight today. One, our Democratic friends heaped a huge new pay-for burden on our small businesses that none of them frankly can comply with. And then they create a loophole where some people in America can get taxpayer subsidies even if they don't qualify for them. So let's be clear. Today we are fixing two huge Democratic messes that they made, and we're going to fix them because our small businesses can't take more of this burden. Many of them are barely hanging on as it is today. Secondly, with these huge deficits, we can't afford more fraud and abuse in our government system. So we apply a pretty simple principle: if you get Federal money you don't qualify for, you're going to have to repay it. Not everyone. If you're moderate income or below, we understand you don't have that money. But if you're making higher than the national average, if you're making $70,000, $80,000, $90,000 a year and you got a subsidy from some other family that you don't deserve, you're going to have to give it back. That's what this bill does. It takes a huge burden off our small businesses they never should have had but our Democrat friends put on them, and then we're going to ask people to repay money they should never have got that our Democrat friends allowed them to get. This actually is a bipartisan bill.
