Health Care Reform Alert

Statement

Since day one of health care reform talks, the American people have spoken out against a Washington takeover of our health care system. Instead they asked for incremental solutions to our health care system's flaws. They asked for insurance reform to lower costs, malpractice reform to curb waste, entitlement reform that makes Medicare fiscally solvent, solutions to root out fraud that plagues Medicaid and other programs, and greater access to affordable care for small business owners and their employees. Through phone calls, emails, town halls and the like -- the American people made their voices heard loud and clear. Unfortunately, on the receiving end at the White House and in Democrat offices, there appears to have been a "bad connection.'
In an unprecedented act of defiance against the will of the American people, the President and Democrats in Congress completely disregarded the objections of the public and their colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and drove one of the most toxic pieces of legislation to date through Congress by greasing the wheels, making unethical deals, and stopping at nothing to get it signed into law.

Reconciliation
This week the Senate has been considering Part II of this debacle -- the reconciliation bill that includes all the "fixes" promised to House Democrats who were on the fence about supporting the Senate health care bill that has now been signed into law. These "fixes" include a number of new sweetheart deals and even more taxes on working families and small businesses. My Republican colleagues and I offered a number of amendments to the reconciliation bill to shed light not only on the $500 billion in new taxes but also on the last-minute special deals and paybacks that the American people have so vehemently come out against. A list of amendments I introduced is below.

These were all ultimately defeated along party lines. The Democratic leadership also defeated an effort I led to remove a new $123 billion job-killing tax on investment income that is in the bill. Nonetheless, because a number of the provisions in the reconciliation bill violate Senate rules, those provisions will be stripped out of the bill. Therefore, the bill will need to be sent back to the House of Representatives for another vote, giving House Democrats one last opportunity to listen to the American people and oppose the proposal.

Democrat leaders in the Senate employed the little-used reconciliation process to pass the bill, which circumvents the usual legislative process in the Senate. They decided to use this tactic, never before used for such sweeping legislation, because they lost their supermajority when the people of Massachusetts, rejecting the Washington takeover of health care, elected Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate.

The Fight Is Far From Over
Going forward, my colleagues and I will be working with the American people to repeal this toxic Washington takeover and replace it with common-sense, bipartisan solutions to America's health care costs. I've already signed on to legislation that would repeal the bill, and will continue to work on solutions that lower health care costs.

While the American people have lost out in this latest, unprecedented abuse of power by President Obama and Democrat leaders, the fight is far from over. We will be working tirelessly to repeal this corrupt law and prevent them from encroaching on our personal liberties and rights in other areas such as energy and education. I hope you will support me in these efforts and share with me your ideas for reining in spending, reducing the government's role in our lives, and making America more prosperous and secure.

Sen. Cornyn Introduced Several Amendments To The Reconciliation Bill That Would:
1) Ensure that health care reform reduces health care costs for American families, small businesses, and taxpayers.
If the Administration's own accountant cannot certify that the Senate bill reduces National Health Expenditures relative to what they would be under current law, the health care reform bills will not go into effect.
2) Protect the American people from new federal taxes, which independent studies have shown will cause another economic recession.
3) Give states incentives to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in their Medicaid programs.

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