[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18578]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       SPENDING SPREE IN CONGRESS

  (Ms. FALLIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FALLIN. American families have taken a hit time and time again, 
and they are hurting. The stock market has tanked, gas prices spiked, 
hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost, and unemployment has 
soared.
  It is no secret that we need to reform our Nation's health care 
system and provide relief to American families throughout this country 
by helping them with access to affordable health care and quality 
coverage for healthy living. But we can't do this unless we rein in the 
excessive costs and prevent an explosive deficit in spending.
  In just 7 months, this House passed an energy bill that will cost 
American families $846 billion in new taxes and a $1 trillion economic 
stimulus bill that is yet to create the jobs it was predicted to do. 
Our national debt now stands at $11.5 trillion.
  House leaders now have been on a spending spree and are about to 
raise taxes even higher for this health care reform bill. This approach 
is wrong, and the American people know it.
  Mr. Speaker, with all this spending in this bill, I cannot find a 
sincere attempt to rein in the cost and increase access to quality 
care. I only see more regulation, less choice, and major tax increases 
on families and businesses. There are market-based solutions to provide 
affordable health care and to make it more portable and to have quality 
access to quality care.
  Unless we are able to reform this health care system, it is going to 
be another spending spree here in Congress.

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