Paul Ryan on MSNBC: "Let's have an honest debate"

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RepPaulRyan
July 29, 2009

Paul Ryan speaks with Katrina vanden Heuvel and Carlos Watson on MSNBC on health care July 29, 2009 - Paul Ryans Health Care Reform: A Plan Forward: http://www.house.gov/ryan/h... - Become a Fan o...

Paul Ryan speaks with Katrina vanden Heuvel and Carlos Watson on MSNBC on health care
July 29, 2009

- Paul Ryans Health Care Reform: A Plan Forward: http://www.house.gov/ryan/healthcare/
- Become a Fan of Paul Ryan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reppaulryan
- Follow Paul Ryan on Twitter: http://twitter.com/reppaulryan

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PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT

Carlos Watson, MSNBC: You wrote recently in an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Before members even had time to read the 1,000-page bill, it already has cleared two major House committees and is set to be fast-tracked through Congress in the days and weeks ahead. Those members of Congress who voted for this bill already in their committees did so without knowing what the legislation costs. Before it's too late, let's take a closer look.

Is this a genuine complaint?

Congressman Paul Ryan:

I dont think we should pass bills that we havent read and dont know what they cost. I dont think that is being effusive. I have already proposed legislation, and a number of Republicans are proposing alternatives. You can look at The Patients Choice Act or go to my Facebook page and youll see that there are many proposals that we have put out there.

We want to see health care reform done, but we want to do it right. If you rush this thing through before anyone even knows what it is, thats not good democracy. Thats not doing our work for our constituents. Whats wrong with going home for August having town hall meetings, listening to our constituents, and then coming back in September and doing this right?

The problem that this plan has experienced is it has run straight into the facts. The facts are that the Congressional Budget Office is telling us this makes our fiscal situation worse. It increases healthcare costs, it doesnt decrease healthcare costs. This new entitlement that is being proposed grows faster than Medicare and Medicaid. It creates huge deficits now, and will create even larger deficits in the future. Thats not my opinion, thats what CBO is telling us. That does not meet the Presidents goal of bending the cost curve down and being deficit neutral.

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Katrina Vanden Heuvel:
You have good government-plan health care. Why shouldnt all Americans have what you have?

Paul Ryan:

I have good private-sector healthcare. We do not have a public option. The federal employee plan lists a number of private plans to choose from to select and my employer, the taxpayer, pays for a portion of these private plans.

There is no public plan option in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. You are mistaken on that point.

For more: http://www.opm.gov/INSURE/HEALTH/INDE...

My Patients Choice Act that I've introduced with Congressman Nunes, Senators Burr and Coburn actually proposes just what youre suggesting: give people the ability, in State-based exchanges, to have a plan just like what we have here in Congress. A private health care plan thats actuarially equivalent to what we in Congress have.

We actually had a vote in the House Ways and Means Committee on an amendment I offered with Congressman Dean Heller which said, Lets put Members of Congress in this public health care plan so that we can experience the same thing we want to impose on the rest of the country. You know what? That amendment failed on nearly a party-line vote.

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Katrina Vanden Heuvel:
Competition is at the heart of America. To deny Americans competition by denying them the option of a public plan seems to me to be un-American.

Paul Ryan:

Whats weird about that line right there, Katrina, is that I know you and others are very much in favor of a single-payer plan, which is obviously to deny competition and have the government run it all. Whats concerning about this debate with me is that youre using capitalist rhetoric to try and move a plan that is inherently anti-market.

The problem is that the facts tell us this: A public plan option quickly becomes a government-run monopoly.The actuaries are telling us is that in a few short years, the public plan option displaces the private sector, employers dump their employees on the public plan, and then they have no choices but the public plan.

And so, lets not try to sell a government-run plan using free market rhetoric. Lets have an honest debate about what this bill is all about.

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Category: News & Politics

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WhiskeyJim59 (6 days ago) Show Hide

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Wow, they sure got him off the air in a hurry after he wouldn't put up with the stupid arguments... lol.

Luckyjat (1 week ago) Show Hide

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Paul Ryan, thank you for being so articulate in this debate!

chukmaty (1 week ago) Show Hide

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Or he is just a billion times smarter than you and most people.

quizerry (1 week ago) Show Hide

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Public Schools, libraries, Fire departments, police are State and Local entities the funding for them are voted on By The People. Never compare the post office it is run poorly and is 3 billion in the red just this year. You tax dollars will pay for the P.O. shortage and you have no say in it.

bfinkish (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

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haha yep you know it.

bfinkish (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

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and did you notice how the black guy cut ryan off on the end because ryan was making msnbc look like children?

bfinkish (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

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yep.

bfinkish (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

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Wow MSNBC got burned.

lives2live (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

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When 99 out of every 100 calls to State reps were against the bailouts, but they still voted in favor of them, how can we believe that our elected officials represent us?

Sorry for the pessimism, I'm just not seeing any improvements here.

masotta (2 weeks ago) Show Hide

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Im not very optimistic either; I'm not blind. Rome was a real empire for more than 500 years, probably our destiny is to be a great nation just for about 50 years before to give up our leadership consumed by our greed & total lack of "real" moral values

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Paul Ryan on MSNBC: "Let's have an honest debate"

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