WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding health care:
“First, I’d like to remind my Republican colleagues that the President will be joining us at lunch this afternoon, so we all look forward to that. The President is of course always welcome here. I’m sure we’ll have a lively discussion.
“Now, I’d like to say just a word about the administration’s health care bill.
“Along with most Americans, the entire Republican conference opposed this legislation. We listened to the public and argued strenuously against its passage at every opportunity.
“We also offered detailed reasons for our opposition along with common sense alternative reforms aimed at lowering the cost of health care without undermining the system that we have.
“And since its passage, our arguments against this bill have been repeatedly vindicated, even as the Administration’s many promises about the bill have been called into question again and again. So Democrats may have passed this bill, but the debate is far from over. And it’s important that Americans know the ways in which the promises they heard just aren’t adding up.
“The supporters of this bill said it would lower costs for families, taxpayers, and small businesses; and that the President wouldn’t support any plan that, quote, ‘adds one dime to the deficit.’
“As it turned out, Medicare’s own experts say the bill will actually increase costs by more than $300 billion.
“The price tag Democrats used to sell the bill is dramatically lower than the revised estimates that are now coming in.
“And sometime in the next several days, Democrats in Congress plan to add tens of billions more in health care spending on top of that, which, if they had been honest about it, would have been included in the original bill.
“Needless to say, all of this extra spending is money we don’t have. It goes straight to the deficit.
“Take all this together and it’s no wonder an overwhelming majority of Americans continue to oppose this law.
“Tomorrow, Senator Barasso will be on the floor offering what he calls a second opinion on the bill. This is an important effort that I think deserves and will continue to receive considerable attention.
“Dr. Barasso is holding the supporters of this bill accountable for the assurances they gave the American people, who deserve to know the real effects and the real impact of this bill.
“Related to all of this, of course, are the methods the administration and its allies in Congress used to pass this bill. The Cornhusker kickback may be a household phrase, but it’s just one of the questionable methods that were used to force it through against the will of the public.
“Another method was the stifling of critics, as was done by the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I’ve spoken out repeatedly on the gag order HHS issued against private companies for doing nothing more than informing seniors about provisions of the bill that could affect their benefits.
“Well, now you can add another layer of outrage to that unfortunate chapter in this debate because just yesterday, I came across a recent flyer from the Department Health and Human Services that does the very thing the administration didn’t want private companies to do.
“The flyer purports to inform seniors about what the health care bill would mean for them.
“Much of it directly contradicts what the administration’s own experts have said about the law.
“And all this is bought and paid for by the American taxpayer.
“So this is a complete outrage, and it’s precisely the kind of thing Americans are so angry about at the moment.
“Here’s the federal government telling a private business it can’t communicate with its clients about important legislation, then doing the same thing itself, on the taxpayers’ dime.
“The administration’s own actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says seniors who use Medicare Advantage will lose benefits as a result of this bill. Yet the flyer they’re putting out says nothing about this. Instead, it implies nothing will change for these seniors.
“But perhaps most egregious is the claim that a bill which cuts Medicare by half a trillion dollars will actually ‘preserve and strengthen’ Medicare.
“This is nothing short of government propaganda, paid for by the taxpayer.
“And I’m sure Dr. Barasso will have more to say about it in the weeks ahead.”
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