Mike Enzi: “I appreciate the request and the emphasis of making a decision by Monday. I hope millions of people across the United…”

“I appreciate the request and the emphasis of making a decision by Monday. I hope millions of people across the United States are using all of the different mechanisms--the volunteers, the phone numbers, the Internet--to get to a very simple result, having Medicare do the math so they can make that decision. Deadlines are a marvelous thing. I operate on deadlines. So to do it before Monday would probably preclude a lot of people from making that decision and will give people the impression that we will move the deadline now, move the deadline next time, move the deadline next time. That won't get people signed up. We have time to move the deadline after the deadline if that seems to be a major concern--I am sure there is a major concern--but to move it beforehand and not to put the pressure on it would be a huge mistake. That falls under the Committee on Finance, not under the HELP Committee, not under HELP, and the Finance Committee has to make those determinations to bring that forward. It would not be possible to put that in this amendment. Again, we are trying to keep it a small business health plan so that small business can have a chance for the first time in 12 years to have something done for them.”