[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19557]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    COMPROMISE ON HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. ROE of Tennessee asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, the Democratic leadership is 
reportedly trying to find a compromise on health care reform. The only 
problem is they're compromising with themselves rather than with 
Republicans. Democrats have been trying to blame their failure to find 
broad consensus on health care reform on Republicans, but this ignores 
the facts. The facts are three committees and the House Democratic 
leadership sat down and drafted a bill with no Republican input. These 
same Democratic leaders have then made changes to the bill based on 
concerns raised by other Democrats. Now, Democratic leaders are 
continuing their negotiation with a different group of Democrats in an 
attempt to secure 218 votes in their own caucus.
  Since Republicans aren't invited to these negotiations, here's some 
free advice from the House floor: If you're having this much trouble 
getting the majority of your conference to support your bill, then 
you're going to have an even bigger problem with the American people, 
particularly when they find out that this bill undercuts the 
President's promise to allow them to continue their health care if they 
like it.
  Republicans have many ideas on how to reform health care and make 
insurance more affordable for small businesses and families and reduce 
costs across the system. Let's scrap this partisan plan and start over 
with what we all agree on and get health care right for the American 
people.

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