We are extremely disappointed in the way the Senate handled the “health care reform” legislation. If Congress can reach a compromise bill that can pass both the House and the Senate, then surely we will look back on it as one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed in the history of our nation.
If it passes it will be because the Democrats are buying votes. When Congress regresses to this level of backroom bargaining, how can it not spell disaster?
Speaker of the House Harry Reid (D-Nev.) put so much money in front of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) how could he not pass it up? All U.S. taxpayers will be forced to pay the state of Nebraska’s Medicaid share for many years into the future if this bill becomes law. How could Sen. Nelson pass it up? A similar pay-off went to Sen. Mary Landrieu (D. La.). Why aren’t the voters of all the other 48 states screaming foul?
Who knows how many more side deals are lurking in the fine print? The devil is in the details, indeed. This will not help our economy get back on its feet; we just can’t afford the huge blank check at this point.
In fact, poll after poll shows that the general public is no longer in favor of the health care reform that will result from either the House or Senate versions of the bill. The most recent Rasmussen Report, an independent polling organization, shows 55 percent of the U.S. electorate oppose the reform bills, although most (67 percent) believe the legislation will pass.
As the effects of health care reform begin to become clear, we have faith that the public will step up and require Congress to clean up much of the nonsense that our elected officials have allowed to transpire. Either that or elect people who will.