[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26532]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   THE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL AND THE INPUT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  (Mr. POLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, the House Democrats have held over 3,000 
public events, town halls, forums for people to give us their ideas on 
health care. I'm sure my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have 
held countless more events. I personally have held 28 events in my 
district in Colorado, town halls, telephone town halls, Congress on 
Your Corners. The input from the American people has made this bill a 
better bill.
  This bill before us, the John Dingell bill, costs over $100 billion 
less than the initial House bill. It reduces our deficit by over $30 
billion over 10 years. Yes, we need to do more to reduce our deficit, 
but this bill is an important start. That's something I heard from my 
constituents, and we're acting upon it by incorporating that into this 
bill.
  Other suggestions from my constituents included making sure that we 
have interstate competition. There are provisions for that in the bill. 
Tort reform, President Obama challenged us to do that. We have put tort 
reform in this bill. The bill is better for small businesses.
  The input from millions of Americans across the ideological spectrum 
has made this bill better. And I would like to thank the American 
people for helping to write the Democratic health care reform bill.

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