Snowe: CBO Report Makes Clear Process on Health Care Reform is Broken
June 16, 2009
Washington, D.C. - U.S Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, today issued the following statement in response to the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) preliminary cost analysis of legislation drafted by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), the Affordable Health Choices Act:
"For years, I have shared Senator Kennedy’s vision and goal to achieve universal access to high-quality, affordable health coverage. And, while I certainly appreciate the HELP Committee’s intense and sustained efforts to advance aggressive and ambitious legislation to overhaul the American health care system, CBO’s analysis makes clear the current process is broken. Indeed, this proposal will force an alarming $1 trillion on the federal budget deficit by 2019 alone, without even cutting the number of uninsured in half. With the national debt already at a staggering $11.4 trillion, we have a fundamental obligation to ensure this legislation does not increase the deficit and, sadly, current congressional health care reform efforts fall woefully short. As we continue to move forward with this historic endeavor, it is absolutely vital for Congress to take the appropriate steps to ensure we fully offset the cost of health care reform."
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