U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today made the following remarks on the floor of the U.S. Senate:
"The Democratic health care bill is arrogant. It is arrogant to think that we are wise enough in a 2,000-page bill to completely turn upside-down and change a comprehensive health care system that affects nearly 300 million Americans—16 or 17 percent of our economy—all at once."
"It is arrogant for us to imagine that the American people aren't wise enough to see through the proposals in this bill, which would transfer millions more Americans into a Medicaid program for low-income people that none of us would want our families to be a part of."
"It is arrogant to send a significant bill to state governments. We make the decision; we send them the bill and do that in a way that, in my state, will force devastating cuts in higher education or huge tax increases."
"It is arrogant to say to the American people that it is only an $800 billion bill when it's really a $2.5 trillion bill, fully implemented. It is arrogant to say that we have balanced our budget when in fact we leave outside the budget what it costs to pay doctors to work in the government-run programs that we have today."
"This legislation is historic. It is historic in its arrogance, and the American people will see through it."
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