Affordable Health Care For America Act

* Mr. SCHOCK. Mr. Speaker, this past Monday night I decided I could better serve the citizens of the 18th district of Illinois by hosting a town hall meeting to listen to their thoughts and concerns with the Speaker's health care proposal, rather than rush back to Washington to vote on a resolution honoring man's best friend.

* As I participated in a town hall in Washington, Illinois with more than 1,000 people in attendance, I heard a reoccurring theme of concern, outrage, disbelief, frustration and fear for what Speaker Pelosi's health care proposal could mean.

* The final question of the night came from a young man named Joshua. In a room surrounded by those three or four times his age, young Joshua had the courage to ask me the difficult question if I supported what President Obama wants to do with Healthcare.

* I told Joshua that I've spent my first 9 months in office trying to figure out exactly what the President was actually trying to do with health care. It is this precise confusion of goals, conflicting messages and lack of communication from the Majority which has all Americans still trying to figure out exactly what the President and the Speaker are trying to do.

* Unfortunately, we've finally learned what they want to do. Tonight, under the cover of darkness, the majority finally passed a health care plan that will raise taxes, raise health care costs, add to our national debt, and hurt America's seniors, families and small businesses. Over half those covered in the bill are done so by expanding entitlements instead of helping them afford insurance. This only exacerbates insurance premiums for ordinary Americans and dramatically increases our nation's debt.

* The bill tonight was about expanding the size of government and leading us down the road to a no-choice government-run healthcare system. Instead of working across party lines to pass bipartisan reform, Speaker Pelosi has decided to let the votes against this massive entitlement expansion be the only true thing bipartisan about it.

Source