The Vote Tonight
November 21, 2009
‘Americans know that a vote to proceed on this bill is a vote for higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare. That’s a pretty hard thing to justify supporting.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Saturday regarding importance of getting it right on health care reform:
“As we move toward tonight’s all-important vote, we’ll have ten more hours of discussion of this 2,074-page bill which represents the top part of this stack. The other 2,000-page bill is the House-passed bill. Senators will have the opportunity to express themselves on the merits of this proposal.
“What do we know for sure as we move toward this debate? We know that Americans oppose this bill. They are not buying the claim that this legislation would do anything whatsoever to lower our staggering deficits.
“In tomorrow’s Washington Post, David Broder, their distinguished senior columnist, certainly not a political conservative, expresses his reservations as a citizen about the steps that we could be about to take. Broder says in part in his column: ‘Today after the Congressional Budget Office gave its qualified blessing to the version of health care reform produced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Quinnipiac University poll of a national cross section of voters reported its latest results.’ “Now, the reason Broder picks Quinnipiac is he says he is familiar with the pollsters and the process, knows that they are thoroughly nonpartisan and credible. And, of course, the Quinnipiac poll is echoed by every other poll that we’ve seen no matter who is taking it. We know the American people are opposed to this 2,074-page proposal.
“Broder points out that in the Quinnipiac survey, less than one-fifth of voters, 19 percent -- a mere 19 percent of the sample – support this bill. Nine of ten Republicans, eight of ten Independents said that whatever passes will add to a torrent – a literal torrent – of red ink. By a margin of 4 to 3 – this is extremely significant – by a margin of 4 to 3, even Democrats agreed that this will produce a torrent of red ink. That fear contributed directly to the fact that by a 16-point margin, the majority in this poll said they oppose this legislation moving through Congress.
“Now, it’s not just the American people that are saying that. The experts are saying it as well. Broder points out: ‘every expert I have talked to says that the public has it right.’
“In other words, the experts agree with the public opinion polls that this 2,074-page bill is a budget buster. He quotes the executive director of the Concorde Coalition, a bipartisan group. This expert says ‘there’s not much reform in this bill. As of now it’s basically a big entitlement expansion plus tax increases.’
“He also decries the gimmickry involved in putting this bill together. Broder points out the Majority Leader’s decision to postpone the start of the subsidies to help the uninsured buy policies from mid 2013 to January 2014, long after taxes and fees are levied by the bill would have begun. That’s the only way they can make this CBO declare it budget neutral, deficit neutral. In fact, we know that over a ten-year period once it’s fully implemented, the cost of this will be $2.5 trillion.
“Americans don’t think higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare is reform. And they certainly don’t think it’s what we need at a time when one out of ten working Americans is looking for a job. And the Chinese are lecturing us about debt. We want to pass this staggering spending program at a time when many would argue our international bankers, the Chinese, are lecturing us about debt. At this time of economic crisis, we need to make things easier for people struggling out there, not harder.
“And make no mistake, the Democrat plan we’ll vote on tonight would make life harder for the vast majority of Americans. It raises their taxes. It raises their health care premiums. It cuts their Medicare. And drives millions off of the private insurance they currently have. When fully implemented, this plan would cost, as I indicated earlier, $2.5 trillion. That’s the equivalent of three failed stimulus bills.
“Perhaps most shocking of all to most people is the conclusion of the Congressional Budget Office that this bill would actually drive health care costs up, not down. This massive bill, at a time when Americans are asking us to control health care costs, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office actually drives costs up.
“Now the American people are scratching their heads. They thought the idea behind all of this was to try to lower costs. And perversely, what we’re doing is the opposite.
“So, Americans will have an opportunity to hear their elected representatives in the Senate express their views on this legislation all day today. Senators who support this bill have a lot of explaining to do. Americans know that a vote to proceed on this bill is a vote for higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare. That’s a pretty hard thing to justify supporting. And every Senator who goes on record saying that we need to proceed to this monstrosity of a bill will in effect be voting for higher taxes, higher premiums, and cuts in Medicare.
“It’s a pretty hard thing to justify, a pretty hard thing to explain to your constituents. Frankly, I don’t think it can be explained, and I don’t think the American people do either.”
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WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Saturday regarding importance of getting it right on health care reform:
“As we move toward tonight’s all-important vote, we’ll have ten more hours of discussion of this 2,074-page bill which represents the top part of this stack. The other 2,000-page bill is the House-passed bill. Senators will have the opportunity to express themselves on the merits of this proposal.
“What do we know for sure as we move toward this debate? We know that Americans oppose this bill. They are not buying the claim that this legislation would do anything whatsoever to lower our staggering deficits.
“In tomorrow’s Washington Post, David Broder, their distinguished senior columnist, certainly not a political conservative, expresses his reservations as a citizen about the steps that we could be about to take. Broder says in part in his column: ‘Today after the Congressional Budget Office gave its qualified blessing to the version of health care reform produced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Quinnipiac University poll of a national cross section of voters reported its latest results.’ “Now, the reason Broder picks Quinnipiac is he says he is familiar with the pollsters and the process, knows that they are thoroughly nonpartisan and credible. And, of course, the Quinnipiac poll is echoed by every other poll that we’ve seen no matter who is taking it. We know the American people are opposed to this 2,074-page proposal.
“Broder points out that in the Quinnipiac survey, less than one-fifth of voters, 19 percent -- a mere 19 percent of the sample – support this bill. Nine of ten Republicans, eight of ten Independents said that whatever passes will add to a torrent – a literal torrent – of red ink. By a margin of 4 to 3 – this is extremely significant – by a margin of 4 to 3, even Democrats agreed that this will produce a torrent of red ink. That fear contributed directly to the fact that by a 16-point margin, the majority in this poll said they oppose this legislation moving through Congress.
“Now, it’s not just the American people that are saying that. The experts are saying it as well. Broder points out: ‘every expert I have talked to says that the public has it right.’
“In other words, the experts agree with the public opinion polls that this 2,074-page bill is a budget buster. He quotes the executive director of the Concorde Coalition, a bipartisan group. This expert says ‘there’s not much reform in this bill. As of now it’s basically a big entitlement expansion plus tax increases.’
“He also decries the gimmickry involved in putting this bill together. Broder points out the Majority Leader’s decision to postpone the start of the subsidies to help the uninsured buy policies from mid 2013 to January 2014, long after taxes and fees are levied by the bill would have begun. That’s the only way they can make this CBO declare it budget neutral, deficit neutral. In fact, we know that over a ten-year period once it’s fully implemented, the cost of this will be $2.5 trillion.
“Americans don’t think higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare is reform. And they certainly don’t think it’s what we need at a time when one out of ten working Americans is looking for a job. And the Chinese are lecturing us about debt. We want to pass this staggering spending program at a time when many would argue our international bankers, the Chinese, are lecturing us about debt. At this time of economic crisis, we need to make things easier for people struggling out there, not harder.
“And make no mistake, the Democrat plan we’ll vote on tonight would make life harder for the vast majority of Americans. It raises their taxes. It raises their health care premiums. It cuts their Medicare. And drives millions off of the private insurance they currently have. When fully implemented, this plan would cost, as I indicated earlier, $2.5 trillion. That’s the equivalent of three failed stimulus bills.
“Perhaps most shocking of all to most people is the conclusion of the Congressional Budget Office that this bill would actually drive health care costs up, not down. This massive bill, at a time when Americans are asking us to control health care costs, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office actually drives costs up.
“Now the American people are scratching their heads. They thought the idea behind all of this was to try to lower costs. And perversely, what we’re doing is the opposite.
“So, Americans will have an opportunity to hear their elected representatives in the Senate express their views on this legislation all day today. Senators who support this bill have a lot of explaining to do. Americans know that a vote to proceed on this bill is a vote for higher premiums, higher taxes, and massive cuts to Medicare. That’s a pretty hard thing to justify supporting. And every Senator who goes on record saying that we need to proceed to this monstrosity of a bill will in effect be voting for higher taxes, higher premiums, and cuts in Medicare.
“It’s a pretty hard thing to justify, a pretty hard thing to explain to your constituents. Frankly, I don’t think it can be explained, and I don’t think the American people do either.”
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