Jay Rockefeller: “over the last several years health care reform has dropped off our national and Congressional agenda. We talk about it…”

“over the last several years health care reform has dropped off our national and Congressional agenda. We talk about it primarily to posture politically, not because we are determined to actually succeed in extending coverage. Too often, the goal seems to be to simply create a campaign issue and make voters believe we are working to solve the problem, when in reality no progress is being made. This year, we have seen a lot of talking on health care, but it's clear that Congress' priorities lie elsewhere. Just this past week we passed a tax break that will affect only 1.7 percent of Americans, yet will cost us $50 billion a year when fully phased in. In the meantime, 40 million people, mostly of modest incomes, continue to live their lives with little hope of getting the health coverage they need. The question that Congress needs to answer: will we continue to sit back and simply watch as the problem of the uninsured grows worse? Along with Senator Kennedy, and Congressmen Dingell, Stark and Waxman, I obviously have very clear answers to this question. And today we are offering a commonsense, bi-partisan step that Congress can take this year to improve the plight of working, uninsured families. We know that the majority of those without health insurance are concentrated in lower-income, working families.”