[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 9, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1273-S1274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the debate over health care has been 
going on for a long time now. It is easy to lose sight of where we 
started, so I would just like to remind people today of what this 
debate was supposed to be about.
  It was supposed to be about cost. This debate was supposed to be 
about bringing the cost of health care down, about keeping health care 
costs from bankrupting families and government. So if you are looking 
for a reason as to why Americans overwhelmingly oppose this bill and 
why Democrats are having such a hard time rounding up votes within 
their own party for this bill, it is because no one believes this bill 
will lower the cost of health care. It is that simple.
  When you hear people talk about the cost of health care, they usually 
are referring to three things: the overall health care expenses 
Americans will have to shoulder if this bill passes, overall spending 
by the Federal Government on health care if this bill passes, and the 
amount of money people will have to spend on health insurance premiums 
if this bill passes. On all three counts, the bill the White House and 
its allies in Congress want us to vote for would drive costs up 
actually. The administration's own scorekeeper at the Centers for 
Medicare & Medicaid Services says overall health spending will go up by 
more than $200 billion under this bill--overall health care spending up 
$200 billion under this bill, according to the administration. The 
independent Congressional Budget Office says Federal spending on health 
care will increase by about $200 billion over the next 10 years. CBO 
also says health insurance premiums for millions of Americans across 
the country will go up 10 to 13 percent as a result of all the new 
government mandates contained in this bill--and continue to rise at the 
current unsustainable rate for nearly everyone else, despite more than 
$2 trillion in new government spending.
  Another thing Americans are rightly concerned about is the debt. It 
is completely out of control. Some say this

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bill lowers the debt, but let me remind my colleagues that the 
extenders bill we will be voting on today--the bill we will be voting 
on today--will add more to the debt than even the White House claims 
its health spending bill will save. Let me say that again. The bill we 
are going to pass today, the extenders bill, will add more to the 
debt--will add more to the debt--than even the White House claims its 
health spending bill will save.
  So if cost is what you are concerned about, then you cannot vote for 
this bill. It is that simple. Americans have it figured out, and that 
is why they are asking themselves why anyone in Congress would even 
think about voting for this bill. This should not even be a tough call.
  Let's start over and work together on a step-by-step solutions 
process that focuses on cost, that actually lowers costs, not the other 
way around. Let's put together a bill Americans will support.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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