The Health Care Reform Bill And The Input From The American People

Floor Speech

Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, the House Democrats have held over 3,000 public events, town halls, forums for people to give us their ideas on health care. I'm sure my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have held countless more events. I personally have held 28 events in my district in Colorado, town halls, telephone town halls, Congress on Your Corners. The input from the American people has made this bill a better bill.

This bill before us, the John Dingell bill, costs over $100 billion less than the initial House bill. It reduces our deficit by over $30 billion over 10 years. Yes, we need to do more to reduce our deficit, but this bill is an important start. That's something I heard from my constituents, and we're acting upon it by incorporating that into this bill.

Other suggestions from my constituents included making sure that we have interstate competition. There are provisions for that in the bill. Tort reform, President Obama challenged us to do that. We have put tort reform in this bill. The bill is better for small businesses.

The input from millions of Americans across the ideological spectrum has made this bill better. And I would like to thank the American people for helping to write the Democratic health care reform bill.

Source