Congressman John Kline Weekly Republican Address 09/05/09 VIDEO TEXT

Congressman John Kline Weekly Republican Address 09/05/09 FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT

Hello, I’m Congressman John Kline from Minnesota’s Second Congressional District. I serve as the Senior Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, a panel that represents the intersection between families, jobs and health care.

I’ve spent a lot of time these last few weeks meeting with workers, small business owners, health care professionals, and hardworking families from rural and suburban Minnesota. What I hear from them is what my colleagues are hearing from Americans all across this great nation – a sense of uncertainty about the health care legislation moving through Congress like a runaway freight train.

Congressman John Kline

They ask: What will happen to my coverage, and my choice of doctors? Will I have to stand in line to receive treatment? Or get approval from someone in Washington before getting a knee replacement or filling a prescription for the latest diabetes medication?

Access to quality care and the comfort of a familiar physician isn’t the only thing on my constituents’ minds. With trillion dollar price tags becoming almost commonplace in Democrat-controlled Washington, American families are worried about what all this spending means for their jobs - and their children - and their children’s children.

One report from the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation estimated that a national health care mandate would eliminate 1.6 million jobs over a five-year period. To add insult to injury, two out of three of those jobs would be shed from the small businesses that drive our economy.

If you think that’s frightening, I'm sorry to say it could get even worse. Using a model developed by Dr. Christina Romer, the head of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, it is estimated that 4.7 million jobs could be lost as a result of health-related taxes most businesses simply cannot afford to pay.

No wonder Americans are scared. Health care reform is being imposed upon them, rather than developed with them, and the potential costs are far too high. And, sadly, monetary costs are only part of the picture.

Many are concerned that Democrats’ plans may cost patients the right to see their family doctor or have any input into a life-altering - if not life-saving medical treatment. They also fear -- and rightly so -- that it may cost them their jobs – a devastating prospect in an economy that has already lost 6.7 million jobs since this recession began.

Democrats have crafted this legislation behind closed doors, creating a partisan blueprint that – at last count – clocked in at more than 1,000 pages. It’s complicated, it’s convoluted and it’s quite simply not going to work.

It’s time to press the ‘reset’ button.

Health care reform doesn’t have to be a partisan battle. It doesn’t have to take away coverage from Americans who like what they have. It doesn't have to put federal bureaucrats in charge of what procedure is covered and what medication is not.

Our goal must be to fix what’s broken in our health care system while preserving those features that work well. We can drive down costs without sacrificing quality. We can expand coverage without orchestrating a government takeover. And we can do all of these things without squeezing small businesses and destroying more jobs at a time when our economy needs them most.

In June, Republicans introduced a plan that would do exactly that. Our plan is designed to make health care more affordable, reduce the number of uninsured Americans, and increase quality at a price our country can afford.

We’ll make sure Americans who like their health care coverage can keep it – a stark contrast with the Democrats’ plan, which the Congressional Budget Office has said will shift millions of Americans out of their current coverage.

Unfortunately, Democrats have rejected our overtures and decided to go it alone. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It could be, and should be, a bipartisan solution.

It’s not too late to start over. It’s not too late to do better. This Labor Day, the folks running Washington should honor American workers by hitting the ‘reset’ button on health care reform and stopping the government takeover that threatens American jobs. I’m Congressman John Kline, and I want to thank you for listening. ###