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September 10, 2009 - Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) gave the following statement in response to President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress tonight on his health care plan:
"The President's assurances tonight that his health care plan will cut cost, expand access, and improve quality, security, and stability, all 'without adding a dime' to our exploding deficit is so ridiculous it would be laughable if he weren't serious. While his passion and frustration came through in his tone, he nevertheless proved that the frustration of the American people has fallen on deaf ears.
"He continued to make claims that expanding government involvement within the health care industry is the answer to combating the massive fraud Medicare and Medicaid, which are already being run by the government. Likewise, the President cannot seriously claim that he doesn't wish to put private insurance companies out of business when he is insisting on a 'public option' that would be able to operate without profit, therefore putting the entire private insurance market at a completely unrealistic disadvantage.
"He also claimed that no federal dollars would be used to fund abortions; that no illegal immigrants would receive coverage under his plan; that nothing in the bill would require or force people to change or lose their plans; and that his plan would not add one dime to the federal deficit.
"But the President's claims ring hollow. They prove that despite claims of bipartisanship, he and his Administration have no intention of changing course, incorporating Republican ideas, or listening to the desperate outrage of the American people who realize that as government grows bigger, the citizen's voice grows smaller. I continue to stand firmly with those millions of Americans who oppose this plan as one that would expand the power of the federal government and diminish the choices and opportunities of the American people.
"It's still possible to have civil debate and to craft legislative solutions that would actually improve our health care system. But the President and the liberal Majority in Congress must start actually listening to the American people that elected them, and not the far-left special interest groups to which they are seemingly beholden."
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