[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26549]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. BAIRD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BAIRD. My colleagues, I have enjoyed the comments by my friends 
from the other side of the aisle. I just would rise today to point out 
one thing. The largest expansion of an entitlement program in the 
history of the United States of America since our creation happened 
under the watch of the Republican majority. It happened on a piece of 
legislation that we had less than 30 hours to read, there were no 
amendments allowed, and it increased the debt per decade by more than 
$750 billion. The amount of Federal borrowing from foreign countries 
doubled under the watch of many of my colleagues here.
  Now I am pleased that they're concerned about fiscal responsibility. 
Speaker Pelosi has pledged that the bill will be available online, plus 
the manager's amendment, for 72 hours. We had less than 30 on the 
Medicare bill. We are at least trying to pay for this legislation. We 
will not, with this legislation, increase the debt $750 billion, as did 
the Medicare prescription drug bill, passed by the former majority 
party.
  Americans need health care reform. My friends on the other side of 
the aisle had 12 years to try to do something constructive, and they 
failed.

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