[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25793]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I respect a great deal my colleague from 
Kentucky who is on the Energy and Commerce Committee, but I heard him 
mostly talk about what he opposes.
  That's the problem with the Republican mantra on health care reform. 
They are opposed to so many things, but we really don't know what they 
are supportive of. The fact of the matter is from the very beginning we 
tried to include both sides of the aisle on this health care reform, 
but essentially what we heard from the Republican side was they didn't 
like this, they didn't like that, and, ultimately, they didn't like 
anything.
  Now we are forced, I suppose, to bring a bill to the floor which 
probably will get mostly or maybe only Democratic support, but it will 
cover everyone. It will provide that universal health care that has 
been so lacking with so many people now who can't find health insurance 
or find it increasingly unaffordable. The public option is a very 
important part of that, because basically it will create competition 
and bring down costs for the average American.
  We are moving forward now. We would like to have bipartisan support. 
But if we don't, we are still moving forward, because we know that the 
promise of health care for every American is really crucial.

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