Whitfield Statement on Release of New House Healthcare Bill

From the Office of Congressman Ed Whitfield
Friday, October 30, 2009

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (KY-01) issued the following statement today after leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives released the text of H.R. 3962 the Affordable Health Care for America Act. This legislation was crafted and introduced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team with little to no input from most Members of Congress.

“Despite calls from the American people to produce a new plan for healthcare reform that will increase access to quality healthcare while holding down costs, it appears Speaker Pelosi has instead decided to take a bad bill and make it even worse. This 2,000 page plan, nearly twice as long as their first proposal, still places unreasonable, job-killing mandates on employers; puts important healthcare decisions into the hands of Washington bureaucrats; and makes huge cuts to Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

“Worse still, we have heard reports that this $900 billion plan will be taken up as early as next week in the House of Representatives. When considering a bill which has the potential to be among the most significant legislation enacted in the last fifty years, shirking the legislative process with behind-the-scenes deal making will not produce the best proposal for our country. Too much is at stake here for important decisions to be made without the input of all Members of Congress – and the millions of Americans they represent - and without sufficient time to review the proposal.”

Whitfield, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, has been an outspoken critic of the healthcare bill first introduced by House leaders. The Congressman has said he is concerned Speaker Pelosi’s proposals could decrease the quality of care Kentuckians receive, hamstring small business owners in the midst of an economic recession and increase the already sky-high national debt.

The Congressman, along with many of his colleagues in Congress, have offered numerous amendments, bills and proposals that would improve access to quality, affordable healthcare without adding to the deficit, but these efforts have largely been rejected by Speaker Pelosi and House leaders.