[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 402]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 AN ASSAULT ON NEW HEALTH CARE FREEDOMS

  (Mr. BLUMENAUER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, you may miss it in the rhetoric, but 
both parties agree the current path of Medicare threatens to bankrupt 
the country.
  Some parts of America are spending twice as much per Medicare patient 
as we spend in Portland, Oregon, for example, but deliver inferior 
care.
  We know what to do.
  This is why the reform act can give better care for less cost, but 
it's not guaranteed. The Republican plan would strip away the reforms, 
the protections and the cost savings.
  But this is not just an assault on new health care freedoms. It 
represents the triumph of politics over adult fiscal supervision. The 
Republican leadership doesn't just ignore, they discredit, the 
nonpartisan professionals who, for 36 years, helped keep politicians in 
both parties honest.
  Without this impartial referee, the long, difficult road to fiscal 
health becomes longer, becomes harder, and becomes less likely to be 
traveled.

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