Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2011

Floor Speech

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Ms. BALDWIN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment and in opposition to the underlying bill.

I fail to see how Republican efforts to eliminate all funds for health reform will create jobs or help our fragile economy recover. Instead, defunding health reform would leave behind thousands of whom I represent in Wisconsin, thousands of Wisconsin families who have already begun to experience the benefits of health care reform.

Should the Republican efforts succeed, tens of thousands of young adults in Wisconsin would stand to lose their insurance coverage through their parents. Once again, children would be refused insurance, discriminated against because of preexisting conditions. And nearly 50,000 Wisconsin seniors would face higher prescription drug costs. What's more, the efforts to defund the health care reform law come on top of extreme cuts to community health care centers and family planning clinics.

While I agree with my Republican colleagues that we must reduce the deficit and bring the budget into balance, we must be smart about it. And this amendment is not smart about it. This unwise bill jeopardizes our Nation's health, our Nation's recovery, and our Nation's future. And it's particularly troublesome to me this week because it falls on top of efforts by Wisconsin's governor to cut health, education, and public safety services, and to take away the rights of public servants to provide them.

Mr. Chairman, today I stand in solidarity with my fellow Wisconsinites as I fight for a better future for all Wisconsinites and all Americans. I urge my colleagues to oppose Republican efforts to defund the health care reform law and to oppose the underlying bill.

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