Tax On Bonuses Received From Certain TARP Receipients

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, well, it has come down to a few wavering votes.

That is what this year-long debate has come to: a handful of Democrats had been holding out to see the final bill.

Now we have it.

Anyone who was waiting to see what the final bill meant for government spending should vote no, because this bill spends even more.

Anyone waiting to see what the final bill meant for Medicare should vote no, because the Medicare cuts in this bill are even deeper than the Senate bill that Speaker Pelosi said Democrats didn't want to vote on.

Anyone waiting to see what the final bill meant for taxes should vote no, because the tax increases in this bill are even higher than the Senate bill.

Anyone waiting to see what the final bill did to the cost curve should vote against this bill, because this bill is likely to bend the cost curve up even further than the Senate bill, not down.

If you were waiting for a bill without the CLASS Act in it--a provision that even top Democrats describe as a Ponzi scheme, then you will vote against this bill, because it is still in there.

If you were waiting to see if they had cut out the sweetheart deals that have outraged the Nation and soured the public on the entire legislative process, then you have to vote against this bill, because there are even more of them in there now.

If you were waiting for a bill that costs less, then you will vote against this bill, because it costs even more than the last one.

And if you were waiting for a bill that wouldn't compel taxpayers to cover the cost of abortions, then you will vote against this bill because this is, the National Right to Life Committee says, the most abortion-expansive piece of legislation ever to reach the floor of the House of Representatives.

Americans are outraged at what is going on here: a bill that aims to shift a major segment of our economy into the hands of the government, and which accomplishes that goal by imposing crushing burdens on already-struggling seniors, middle class families, and small businesses, is being rammed through Congress against the clear will of the public. No amount of spin will change the fact that Medicare will be deeply cut, insurance premiums and taxes will go up, the Federal bureaucracy will grow, and as demand increases, the quality of care in this country will get worse and worse.

Taking a bill that House Democrats are too embarrassed to vote on, adding more than $50 billion in new taxes and slashing $60 billion more from our seniors' Medicare and keeping sweetheart deals may make some Washington Democrats ``giddy,'' but it is not reform.

This bill isn't an excuse to vote in favor of the Democrat plan for health care. It is a reason to vote against it.

Anyone who votes for this bill is clearly less concerned about responding to their constituents than responding to the pressure tactics of Democrat leaders in Congress.

Some may have concluded that there is more merit in following the cajoling voices in Washington than the clear voices of their constituents back home, more merit in choosing to side with Democrat leaders in their quest to ram this bill through over the wishes of the American people.

Some may argue that the details we have seen since yesterday are reason to support it. But if anything is clear in this debate, it is that yesterday's CBO score is conclusive proof that this health care bill is unsalvageable.

This is something the American people realized a long time ago, and now they are counting on the final holdouts to vote on their behalf this weekend. Now that they have seen the final bill, they can't understand why anyone would do otherwise.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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