March 23, 2010 Republican Leadership Conference

March 23, 2010 Republican Leadership Conference

MARCH 23, 2010

Republican Leadership Press Conference
March 23, 2010

Participants:
- Conference Chair Mike Pence (R-IN)
- Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)

Multimedia:
Audio   

Conference Chairman Mike Pence
 
Good morning, all. We're a little short handed this morning but the Conference Vice Chair and I will do our level best to share with you some thoughts about the House Republican Conference this morning and then we'll be making our way upstairs for the meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel.
 
First, House Republicans met this morning and while we are disappointed with the outcome of the vote on Sunday night, we are determined to continue to take our case against this government takeover of health care to the American people. The president is planning to sign the legislation today and planning to hit the road, to Iowa City this week, but House Republicans believe that one more speech about the same bad bill isn't going to change any minds in America. The American people oppose a government takeover of health care. They oppose the job-killing tax increases, individual mandates, public funding of abortion and the creation of incentives in system that will result in millions of Americans losing the health insurance that they have.
 
Republicans today talked about strategies going forward, not only taking our message to the American people but using every legislative means at our disposal for the balance of this Congress to ensure that the opposition of the majority of the American people and the opposition of the bipartisan minority to this measure here on Capitol Hill is fully expressed. We really do believe that at the end of the day, as Alexander Hamilton said so many years ago, of this institution, that "here sir, the people govern" and it wasn't so much that the Republican minority lost on Sunday night, the American people lost. But this fight is not over.
 
House Republicans are determined to take our case against this government takeover of health care to the floor of the Congress and to the American people for the balance of this Congress. And, if we find ourselves in a new, renewed Republican majority in 2011, we will work in every way to repeal this legislation and start over with the kind of health care reform that will be built on giving the American people more choices and not more government.
 
Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers

Good morning.

Never has a Congress worked so hard to pass something that is so unpopular and that is going to be so destructive for America. Throughout this debate, everyone agreed that we needed health care reform but this is the wrong bill at the wrong time. If you look at the fact that there are 15 million Americans out of work today and this bill is only going to add more taxes, more requirements on our small businesses. Premiums are going to continue to escalate and CBO estimates that under the bill that just passed, premiums will increase between 10 and 13 percent. We face record deficits, a record debt at $12 trillion and yet this bill is more deficit spending.

And then finally, at a time when Americans have really lost trust in this Congress, Congress passes this bill that was largely put together behind closed doors and overrides the will of the people. I really believe that Americans deserve better and they expected better from Congress. I'm proud of the fact that every Republican and 34 Democrats voted against this bill. It was bipartisan opposition to the bill and I look forward to November and I know every American does, when they get to have their vote.