[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19553]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 YOU CAN'T BEAT SOMETHING WITH NOTHING

  (Mr. INSLEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. INSLEE. Mr. Speaker, our current health care system--and it 
really is not a system--is not up to the standards of America. I want 
to address the issue of cost. Our wages have been going down a black 
hole of health care costs. Health care costs are rising two to three 
times faster than our wages. If we want to know why we're having 
trouble making ends meet, it's because our money is going into health 
care much faster than our wages are improving.
  Now what does the other party have to solve this problem? Nothing. We 
are offering some suggestions on ways to have higher quality health 
care costs, reduce the cost, and reduce the rate of medical inflation. 
There is one principle that we ought to have on a bipartisan basis: you 
can't beat something with nothing. I am encouraging our Members across 
the aisle to join us to bring change to this system so we can restrain 
the rate on medical inflation and pass health care reform.

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