[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26053]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, at the end of President Bush's term, this 
House was faced with a TARP bill. The American public likes 
bipartisanship, and we had bipartisanship on that bill. There were 
Democrats and Republicans who voted ``no,'' but there were Democrats 
and Republicans who voted ``yes.'' Just about everyone agrees that bill 
saved us from going over the abyss into a Great Depression similar to 
1933. It was a moment of bipartisanship and a moment I was proud to 
participate in.
  When President Obama became President, bipartisanship ended. The 
ARRA--which everybody agrees, the stimulus package, has helped our 
economy and provided millions of jobs in State and local government and 
education and other places and provided jobs in the private sector--
didn't have a single vote on the Republican side. Not one single vote.
  And now on health care, we see not one single vote coming from the 
Republican side. Doing nothing is not the answer. Everybody knows the 
health system needs reform.
  In my city, the emergency room at Charity Hospital, the public 
hospital, is about to close. People are having great problems paying 
their premiums. We need health reform, and we need bipartisanship.

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