[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26554-26555]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. CAMP asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CAMP. Mr. Speaker, the Democrat bill we may be voting on later 
this week is not the prescription for what's ailing this country.
  The CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, confirmed the Democrats' 
bill spends well over $1 trillion, far more than even the President 
asked for. Nearly half of the people who get coverage in the bill will 
get it through Medicaid. This isn't health care reform. It's welfare 
expansion. It's the expansion of a program that is already financially 
unsustainable and that is crushing State budgets.
  The Democrats' bill includes more than $700 billion in tax increases, 
many of which will be paid by middle class families, including 
penalties on people

[[Page 26555]]

who don't buy insurance, penalties on employers who can't afford to 
cover their workers, and new taxes on Federal spending accounts, health 
savings accounts, insurance premiums, and medical devices.
  The bill also includes about $500 billion in Medicare cuts that will 
reduce seniors' access to doctors and to hospitals, and it will force 
millions out of their Medicare Advantage plans.
  House Republicans support taking the first steps towards 
comprehensive reform that is focused on driving down costs for health 
care for all Americans.

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