[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 18970]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HEALTH CARE WEEK VII, DAY II

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, last night, the President, to his 
credit, reiterated what the American people have been saying for weeks: 
that the Democratic health care proposals we have seen so far aren't 
where they need to be. I couldn't agree with him more. President Obama 
also said that rising health care costs are an imminent threat to our 
economy and that any reform must reduce these long-term costs.
  The problems the President highlighted are real and, here again, 
Republicans agree with him. Unfortunately, the solutions to these 
problems are not in the Democrat plans now working their way through 
Congress. In fact, the bills we have seen would make these problems 
even worse. The director of the Congressional Budget Office has said 
that these proposals would increase overall health care spending, not 
reduce it. All of us want health care reform. But we want reform that 
brings down costs and long-term spending, not a so-called reform that 
makes things even worse.
  The President also said health care reform must not increase the 
national debt. Republicans agree with that too. But, again, both 
Democrat bills we have seen would saddle Americans with hundreds of 
billions of dollars of additional debt, making the situation even 
worse. Just yesterday, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve warned that 
unless we get serious about spending and debt, we are endangering not 
only our recovery from the current recession but also endangering 
future economic growth. That is why he said any health care reform must 
get control of costs. Otherwise, it could bankrupt both our government 
and eventually our entire economy.
  So the last thing we need is a flawed health care bill that adds to 
the national debt and increases long-term health care costs. Instead of 
trying to rush through proposals that don't work, we need to take the 
time to do it right and make the reforms the American people are asking 
for--reforms that won't put us on the road to bankruptcy.

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