[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 91 (Wednesday, June 17, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6670-S6671]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, earlier this year, the new 
administration proposed and Democrats in Congress approved an economic 
stimulus bill that was meant to lift the economy at a time of massive 
job losses and widespread economic hardship. Not only was the bill 
enormously complex, it was also one of the costliest pieces of 
legislation ever proposed. Yet those who put it together insisted it be 
rushed to a vote.

  Their reason, of course, was the economic downturn was too dire to 
wait. Trust us, they said; it is responsible, it is needed, and it will 
work. So this incredibly complex, enormously expensive bill, introduced 
on January 26, was passed less than 3 weeks later, just 24 hours--24 
hours--after all its details

[[Page S6671]]

had been disclosed to the public for review.
  At the time, I argued that spending this much borrowed money in the 
middle of a recession on a bill that had been rushed to the floor was 
extremely irresponsible. At a time when millions were struggling to 
make ends meet, Washington had no business borrowing hundreds of 
billions of dollars to pay for government golf carts and ATV trails in 
the name of economic stimulus. This week, Senator Coburn has catalogued 
some of the other outrages that are contained in this bill. Here are 
just a few:
  The town of Union, NY, received a $578,000 grant that it didn't 
request for a homeless problem it claims it does not have. Florida is 
planning to spend $3.4 million in stimulus money to build a 13-foot 
turtle tunnel at Lake Jackson. That is more than a quarter of a million 
dollars per foot. This one takes the cake. In North Carolina, $40,234 
in Federal stimulus money will pay for the salary--the salary--of 
someone whose job is to lobby for more stimulus money. That is $40,234 
to pay someone to lobby for more stimulus money.
  This would be comical if it weren't so maddening and if these 
projects hadn't been sold to the American people as the answer to our 
economic problems and if the administration hadn't assured us it would 
make sure every cent of this money was spent efficiently and without 
waste. But that was then.
  The administration had promised since January it would keep an eye on 
how precious tax dollars were spent. But just months after the stimulus 
was signed into law, it was already admitting funds would be wasted and 
people were being scammed.
  In January and February, administration economists took to the talk 
shows promising that the stimulus would create 3 to 4 million jobs. 
They said that if we passed the stimulus, the unemployment rate would 
now be about 8 percent. But just a few months later, with job losses 
continuing to mount, the administration admits their early predictions 
were simply a guess and that they guessed wrong. Today, the 
unemployment rate stands at 9.4 percent. Just yesterday, the 
administration said it expects unemployment to climb even higher.
  The $1 trillion they said was absolutely necessary to jump-start the 
economy, and which was put on a fast track by an eager-to-please, 
Democratically led Congress, is now being called a very bad guess by 
the very people who proposed it.
  Now they are asking us to do it again, only this time it is even more 
than $1 trillion, and the consequences could be far worse.
  The early estimates we are getting for the health care proposal we 
have seen are that a portion of it--just a portion of it--will be $1.3 
trillion. This figure, staggering in itself, doesn't even account for 
the money that would be needed to pay for expanding Medicaid and 
creating a new government-run plan. No one can tell us where any of 
this money will come from.
  Yet similar to the stimulus, we are being told, in the most urgent 
tones, that this government takeover of health care is absolutely 
necessary, and we have to approve it as soon as possible, without 
review, without knowing the full cost, and without knowing how it will 
affect people's lives. Once again, it is rush and spend and rush and 
spend and a tidal wave of debt.
  Everyone in America knows health care reform is needed in this 
country, but they want us to do it right. They do not want a blind rush 
to spend trillions--trillions--of dollars in the hope that the 
administration gets it right. During the debate over the stimulus, we 
were told we had to pass it right away, with just 24 hours to review--
or $42 billion an hour--for the sake of the economy. Now we are being 
told we need to approve a particular set of health care reforms for the 
sake of the economy, but we have no bill. We have no idea of its total 
cost. Yet it is rush, rush, rush.
  We have heard all this before. We have made this mistake already. 
Americans will not be rushed into another one. Americans do want health 
care reform, but they want the right reform, not a government takeover 
disguised as a reform that takes away the care they have, replaces it 
with something worse, and costs untold trillions that they and their 
grandchildren will have to pay through higher taxes and even more debt.
  The administration admits it made a mistake on its predictions about 
the stimulus. We shouldn't make the same mistake again when it comes to 
health care.
  I yield the floor.

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