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Kline Statement on Senate Health Care Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 21, 2009 | Alexa Marrero or Ryan Murphy ((202) 225-4527)
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), Senior Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today after Senate Democrats voted overnight, under the cover of darkness to advance the latest version of a government takeover of health care.

 


“While this bill has seen numerous revisions and rewrites – including hundreds of millions of dollars in special concessions to secure reluctant Democrat votes – it remains a wholesale overhaul of one-sixth of the American economy that will give greater authority to the federal government at the expense of patients and their doctors. Like the disastrous proposal that passed the House earlier this year, the Senate is advancing a more than 2,000 page legislative monstrosity replete with tax hikes, new mandates, and costly adventures in big government that will undermine the quality of health care in our nation.


“The American people have spoken: They do not want this bill. Republicans stand with working families in opposition to a government takeover of health care, and we stand for commonsense reforms that will fix what’s broken in our health care system while preserving coverage for Americans who like what they have. We are working to expand access to coverage while lowering the cost of health care.


“The Senate plan – like its counterpart in the House of Representatives – fails to achieve the number one goal of health care reform: bringing down costs. Instead, it masks trillions in spending with budgetary gimmicks while slashing funding for Medicare and threatening our seniors’ health care. This bill is as dangerous as those that preceded it, and it is just as worthy of rejection. It is time for Democrats in the House and Senate to listen to their constituents, join with Republicans, and defeat the bill once and for all.”

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