[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 15840]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HEALTH CARE WEEK IV, DAY II

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services recently said that when it comes to health care, the status 
quo is unacceptable, and I agree with her. She then went on to say that 
there are a lot of people on Capitol Hill who are content with doing 
nothing, though she didn't name names. On that point, I totally 
disagree. Republicans and Democrats all share the belief that health 
care reform is needed. The question is what kind of reform it should 
be.
  Some have proposed a government-run health care system that would 
force millions to give up the private health plans they have and like 
and replace them with a government plan where care is denied, delayed, 
and rationed. This so-called ``reform'' is not the kind of change 
Americans want. They want health care that is more affordable and 
accessible, but that preserves the doctor-patient relationship and the 
quality of care they now enjoy.
  And that is why Republicans are proposing reforms to make health care 
less expensive and easier to obtain without destroying what's good 
about our system. Republicans want to reform our medical liability laws 
to discourage junk lawsuits and bring down the cost of care; we want to 
encourage wellness and prevention programs that have been successful in 
cutting costs; we want to encourage competition in the private 
insurance market to make care more affordable and accessible; and we 
want to address the needs of small businesses without creating new 
taxes that kill jobs. But instead of embracing these commonsense ideas 
that Americans support, Democrats in Congress are trying to rush 
through a health care bill that will not only lead to a government-run 
system, but will do so by spending trillions of dollars and plunging 
our country deeper and deeper into debt.
  Recently, the independent Congressional Budget Office told us that 
just one--just one--section of the bill being discussed in the HELP 
Committee would spend $1.3 trillion over a decade. And Senator Gregg, 
the ranking member on the Budget Committee, estimates the HELP bill 
could end up spending more than $2 trillion--more than $2 trillion on a 
bill that would not even solve the entire problem.
  The American people don't want us to spend trillions of dollars we 
don't have on a health care system they don't want. And yet that is 
exactly what Democrats plan to do, even though they can't explain to 
anyone how they will pay for it. Despite the staggering costs of the 
Democrat health care plan, we're being told we need to rush it through 
the Congress for the sake of the economy. When Republicans ask how 
Democrats are going to pay for it, or what impact it will have on our 
health care system and the economy, the only words we hear are rush and 
spend, rush and spend.
  We heard similar warnings earlier this year when Democrats pushed 
through their stimulus bill, and voted on it less than 24 hours after 
all of the details were made public. Well, if the American people 
learned anything from the stimulus, it is that we should be suspicious 
when we are told that we need to spend trillions of dollars without 
having the proper time to review how the money will be spent or what 
effect it will or will not have.
  Democrats also said the stimulus money wouldn't be wasted and that 
they would keep track of every penny spent. Yet already we are learning 
about outrageous projects like a $3.4 million turtle tunnel that is 13 
feet long or more than $40,000 being spent to pay the salary of someone 
whose job is to apply for more stimulus money.
  The administration also predicted that if we passed the stimulus, the 
unemployment rate wouldn't exceed 8 percent. But just last week, the 
President said that unemployment would likely rise to 10 percent.
  So when Democrats now predict that their health care plan will cut 
costs, Americans should be skeptical. And they have good reason to be, 
since independent estimates show that every health care proposal 
Democrats have offered would only hurt the economy.
  Americans should also be skeptical when it comes to Democrat promises 
that people will be able to keep their current insurance. Just last 
week, the independent Congressional Budget Office said that just one 
section of the HELP Bill will cause 10 million people with employer-
based insurance to lose the coverage they have. And that is even before 
we have seen a finished product. The bill is still missing significant 
sections, such as a government plan that Democrats want, which could 
force millions more to lose their current coverage.
  The stimulus showed that when politicians in Washington say the sky 
is going to fall unless Congress approves trillions of dollars right 
away, we should be wary. Yet just a few months later, Americans are 
hearing the same thing from Democrats in the health care debate: rush 
and spend, rush and spend. Americans want health care reform, but they 
want the right health care reform. They want us to take the time and 
care necessary to get it right. And that is why the Democrats' rush and 
spend strategy is exactly the wrong approach.
  I yield the floor.

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