[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17591]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HEALTH CARE REFORM COST

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, the President has expressed several 
times his concern about our Nation's debt. We Republicans have a great 
concern about the amount of debt being stacked up in this country.
  President Obama's proposals will, over the next 10 years, add three 
times as much to the national debt, almost, as was spent during World 
War II, according to the Washington Post. The President has had a 
summit on entitlement spending, which is the principal cause of the 
debt. He has said we need to pay for programs as we go. If we spend a 
dollar, we should save a dollar or tax a dollar. More recently he has 
said that health care legislation has to be paid for.
  Well, Mr. President, we are rushing down a road to pass a bill 
without knowing what it costs. I just left the work we are doing in the 
HELP Committee. The Finance Committee is working hard. We had a 
bipartisan breakfast of nearly 20 Senators this morning discussing how 
we could have a bipartisan result in health care this year.
  But we cannot do it unless we know how much it costs. It affects 16 
percent of our entire national budget. We do not have a bill yet. The 
HELP Committee may have one by the end of the week, in which 
Republicans have had almost no input. The Finance Committee is trying 
to develop a bipartisan bill, but they are not going to begin writing a 
bill until next week. Then it will take several weeks to know what it 
costs. We need to know, not just so we do not add to the debt, but so 
we can understand what the various options are and how much they cost.
  We are talking about Medicare cuts and spending Grandma's Medicare 
money on somebody else. How much does that cost? We are talking about 
taxes on employers. How much does that cost? We are talking about 
adding to the debt. By exactly how much? We are talking about a surtax 
on incomes. We are talking about extensive increases in State costs in 
Medicaid.
  So we want a health care bill. But we want something Americans can 
afford, and after we are through fixing health care, we want to make 
sure they have a government they can afford. We agree with the 
President. We cannot responsibly pass a bill on this floor until we 
know what it costs.
  So why the rush? Let's do it right. We are talking about one of the 
most important pieces of legislation ever, and we are talking about 
trillions of dollars.

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