Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. BASS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2.

In survey after survey, the number one issue facing our country is jobs. Last year, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle said the number one issue we should be working on is jobs. Well, the health care reform act is a jobs bill.

In the seventies and eighties I worked in several hospitals in the Los Angeles area. During those years, there was such a severe shortage of health care providers that hospitals recruited nurses from Canada and the Philippines. Right now, there is an estimated shortage of 400,000 nurses nationally. Right now, there is an estimated shortage of 50,000 doctors. Right now, there are waiting lists of several years to get a slot in nursing schools and other allied health professions.

So if there is a shortage of medical personnel right now and health care reform expands coverage to 30 million people, then can someone explain to me how health care reform is not a jobs bill?

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