[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 26908]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. GERLACH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GERLACH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the 
Democrats' most recent health care reform proposal. Frankly, it's a bad 
bill that keeps getting worse and worse. Not only will it cost over 
$1.2 trillion over 10 years, it continues the typical Democrat model of 
huge tax increases on individuals and small business owners, and it 
will devastate our seniors' Medicare Advantage program.
  Under the latest bill, it will now begin taxing our medical device 
manufacturers, of which there are 600 such companies in Pennsylvania 
employing nearly 20,000 people. That tax will do nothing but cut jobs, 
increase prices, and stifle new product innovation for an industry who 
wants to grow and prosper in the face of increasing European 
competition.
  If this bill is the best reform this body can produce, it is a sad 
commentary, indeed, on the Democrats' professed willingness to achieve 
a commonsense, bipartisan solution to this most pressing issue.

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