[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3519]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, the American people are fed up with the 
most costly health care system in the world with too little good health 
to show for it. We are 38th of 195 countries in life expectancy. Pity 
those who think they can run on the theme: ``Repeal health care 
reform.'' Democrats opposed Bush's version of prescription drugs for 
seniors because, unlike our health care bill that's coming to the 
floor, the Bush plan added billions to the deficit, didn't pay for the 
bill, and cut seniors off with the doughnut hole. But we never ran on 
the outrageous theme ``repeal prescription drugs for seniors.'' 
Instead, we vowed to fix the prescription drug law if Americans would 
give us control of the Congress. They did--and we are. We are closing 
the doughnut hole, and we are paying for it. You're entitled to 
criticize, indeed to change the health care reform Americans have been 
waiting for for almost a hundred years. But it is simply a fool's 
errand to oppose it, and madness to try to repeal it.

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