[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 44 (Monday, March 22, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1784-S1785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, last night marked a turning point in 
our politics and in our Nation.
  On a Sunday night in March, with the Nation howling in opposition, a 
bare majority of Democrats in the people's House ignored the people to 
claim a win for their party, and then they celebrated. The American 
people watched all this in utter disbelief.
  Here is what the Democrats voted for last night: a vast expansion of 
the entitlement state that we cannot afford, massive cuts to Medicare, 
higher taxes, higher health care costs, worse care, taxpayer-funded 
abortions. Do not believe the spin that this was not a party-line vote. 
Yes, not a single Republican voted for the bill, but a whole lot of 
Democrats voted against it as well.
  The fact is, the so-called Senate version of the health care bill 
that passed the House last night could not even pass the Senate today. 
Why is that? Because this bill is so deeply unpopular that the voters 
in the most liberal State in the country just elected a Republican to 
the Senate for the first time in nearly four decades in order to stop 
it.
  Democrats want to pretend this did not happen. They want to pretend 
New Jersey and Virginia and Massachusetts simply did not happen. They 
want to pretend the views of the people who sent us here do not matter. 
They want to pretend we can afford a $2.5 trillion entitlement in the 
middle of a recession, when we cannot even meet the obligations we 
already have. They want to pretend future generations will not have to 
bear the burden of their actions. They want to pretend our actions 
today will not affect the American dream tomorrow.
  They are living in a fantasy, and today that fantasy becomes even 
more absurd. As if the bill they voted on yesterday was not bad enough, 
now they want to make it even worse. That is what is going to happen in 
the Senate. That is what is going to happen in the Senate this week.
  Democratic leaders now want us to take the bill that passed the 
Senate back in December and that the House voted on last night and make 
the tax hikes even higher and the Medicare cuts even deeper. They want 
us to endorse a raft of new sweetheart deals that were struck behind 
closed doors just last week so this thing could limp over the finish 
line last night.
  Americans said they did not want this bill. Democrats passed it 
anyway. They said they did not like the deals and they did not like the 
giveaways. Democrats struck them anyway. Now they want to make this 
bill even worse. They want to add more deals on top of the other ones. 
Well, I have a message for our Democratic friends: Enough is enough. No 
more tax hikes, no more Medicare cuts, no more dealmaking, no more 
backroom deals.

  Democrats may have won their vote last night, but they lost the 
argument and they have lost the trust of the American people. Americans 
know you don't drive down the cost of health care by spending another 
$2.5 trillion on health care. They know we can help people with 
preexisting conditions without slashing Medicare to do it. They know we 
can do all these things without crippling the economy or forcing 
taxpayers to pay for abortions. Americans see through the false choices 
they have been handed by the Democrats here in Washington.
  Democratic leaders may have gotten their votes, they may have gotten 
their win, but today is a new day. Already we are seeing Democrats in 
the Senate distancing themselves from this effort to make a bad bill 
worse. So we already know that reconciliation is guaranteed to have 
bipartisan opposition. Democrats were hoping they could silence the 
voices of the American people last night, but starting today those 
voices are going to be heard. Senate Republicans are going to make sure 
those voices are heard.

[[Page S1785]]

  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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