[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3026]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
             MEDIA GIVES DEMOCRATS' SIDE ON RECONCILIATION

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Senate's reconciliation 
procedure is designed for legislation to balance the budget. Now the 
administration wants to use reconciliation to force a health insurance 
scheme on the American people. The health care scheme under 
reconciliation means decisions made by the government behind closed 
doors against the wishes of the American people.
  A recent New York Times article claimed that Republicans have used 
reconciliation in the past, but failed to acknowledge that it has never 
been used before to enact a massive partisan policy change like a $1 
trillion government health care mandate. And the national media have 
largely ignored the fact that many Democratic leaders, including the 
President, previously voiced strong opposition to reconciliation. In 
fact, the nonpartisan fact checkers at PolitiFact determined that the 
President's support of reconciliation is a ``full flop'' from his 
earlier comments opposing it.
  The national media should give Americans the facts, not just present 
the Democrats' point of view.

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