[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5222]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             RECONCILIATION

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, over the last several days, the Senate 
voted on a number of amendments to H.R. 4872, the Health Care and 
Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. This important legislation makes 
changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which 
President Obama signed into law on Tuesday. In short, it makes a good 
bill better.
  Now, at the very last minute, my colleagues on the other side have 
offered a number of amendments designed to play games with Americans' 
health care and to cause delays and obstructions as we reach final 
passage of this bill. I voted against the long list of amendments 
offered by the other side--as did the majority of the Senate--not 
because some weren't good amendments but because this was not the 
appropriate legislation to attach them to. I have been and will 
continue to be a champion of many of these issues, but I will not vote 
to play games with the health care of American families. Trying to 
tackle these issues at the last minutes of the health care debate is 
not appropriate or wise or responsible. Instead, I look forward to 
working with my colleagues in the coming months to find bipartisan 
solutions to these problems.

                          ____________________