[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 24, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H890]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     BUSH HEALTH INSURANCE PROPOSAL

  (Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, last night President Bush 
unveiled a health insurance proposal that is nothing more than a tax 
hike on middle-class Americans. The President's plan would provide tax 
breaks to Americans who purchase their own medical insurance and would 
pay for it by taxing so-called high-priced health insurance plans.
  And just who is the President referring to when he talks about those 
supposed high-priced insurance plans? Paul Krugman of the New York 
Times writes, ``We're not talking about the wealthy, we're talking 
about ordinary workers who manage to negotiate better-than-average 
health plans.'' That's right. In the same year that the President is 
once against submitting a budget making his tax cuts permanent, tax 
cuts that go overwhelmingly to the richest of Americans, he is 
proposing to shift more of the cost of health onto working Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not the way to solve our Nation's health care 
problems. This Democratic House will work and look at creative ways to 
reduce the number of uninsured without taxing the health care benefits 
of middle-class workers.

                          ____________________