[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 38 (Tuesday, March 16, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1465]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. ROSKAM asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROSKAM. Madam Speaker, as we are here today on the House floor, 
at this very moment the Democratic leadership of the House of 
Representatives is smiling and dialing. They are calling Members of 
Congress on the other side of the aisle, cajoling them and coaxing them 
and urging them to do the equivalent of really political bungee 
jumping, but they don't know how long the cord is. They are saying, You 
be the first one to jump off. We're going to vote for this Senate bill, 
and you are going to trust in the Senate to take it up and fix it. Or 
alternatively, even worse, we're not going to have a final vote on this 
bill.
  Can you imagine a process that is this manipulated that is at this 
high stakes, literally the Federal Government taking over one-sixth of 
the economy really in the twinkling of an eye? And it is as if the 
Democratic leaders are telling the American public, Oh, look, we have 
got a wonderful plan for your life. You are just going to love it. We 
are going to vote on it, and then we'll let you read it.
  Madam Speaker, we can do better. The American public demands that we 
do better, to vote ``no'' and start over.

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