1,990 page partisan bill created with no input from GOP members

Video transcript

Congressman Vernon J. Ehlers: “This year, leaders on both sides of the aisle in Congress have made it a priority to improve access to health care for Americans, and to make health care coverage more affordable. We all agree that there are problems with the health care system, and that changes are necessary to make sure Americans can get quality health care when they need it at a price they can afford.

“Today, House Democrats introduced the latest version of their bill, H.R. 3962. This bill is a whopping 1,990 pages. The bill is huge and extremely complex. To show that to you, look at this copy of the bill as introduced. Now this is half the size of the final bill. Notice, comparing it to my family bible, it’s even thicker and bigger. It took a long time for the Lord and all his writers to put the Bible together, and I think we should have spent a little more time on this bill so that it’s not so complex and bad.

“To show you the latest version, as I said, it’s twice as thick as the original version. In fact, they’ve doubled the amount in it. It doesn’t look quite as thick because we printed in small type to reduce the size. I have posted a digital copy of it on my website. If you want to download it or read it on your computer, you can do that. I have already begun studying it, and I hope you study it as well, because this is a very important topic.

“This bill was conceived and written behind closed doors by Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders without my input, or the input of my Republican colleagues. I am very disappointed at the partisan nature of this bill. I care deeply about this issue, and wanted to be involved, and I would love to develop a good health care system. But Democratic leaders would not allow any input from Republicans.

“The result is that this bill appears to have bad or unworkable ideas in it. It sounds very similar to earlier Democratic versions of this legislation which I opposed since they didn’t curb growing health care costs and because it put the government in charge of American’s personal health care decisions.

“My hope throughout this process was that the bill would be drafted in a bipartisan manner, but it appears that will not happen. I have been working with my Republican colleagues to draft an alternative bill that would implement widely agreed-upon reforms to our health care and health insurance laws, and do it more efficiently. I will continue those efforts in the hope that it will be considered alongside the Democrats’ bill.

“The issue of health care and health insurance reform is extremely important to me. I am disappointed at the bill we have before us today, but I continue to have hope that a more sensible reform of health care may be accomplished. I certainly hope so. I appreciate your interest, and thank you very much for any help you can give me.”

– 30 –