The nation's oldest taxpayer group slammed the Senate for moving forward with debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid's enormous health care "reform" legislation. Packed to the gills with tax hikes, more government spending, and damaging regulations, this bill would add tremendous burdens to taxpayers while ignoring some of the fundamental problems with America's health care system. Andrew Moylan, Director of Government Affairs for the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) provided the following the statement on behalf of his organization:
"Senators voting for cloture of this 'reform' bill should be ashamed of the fact that they have essentially ignored the will of the millions of citizens that attended town hall meetings, organized rallies, and contacted their lawmakers in opposition to big government health care over the past several months.
Despite real problems with our health care system, this bill seems aimed more at expanding government than at addressing the legitimate concerns caused by the high cost of our employer-based system, inadequate transparency, and regulations that stifle private-sector competition. These days, which are fraught with job losses and economic uncertainty, are definitely NOT the time for a huge package of new taxes.
Some Senators will undoubtedly attempt to hide behind the claim that a vote in favor of cloture on the motion to proceed is simply a vote in favor of debating the bill, but history tells a different story. A recent Congressional Research Service study showed that legislation where cloture on the motion to proceed was successful ultimately passed the Senate nearly 98 percent of the time. Simply stated, any Senator who voted AYE on this cloture motion was effectively voting AYE on this disastrous bill too.
Before moving even an inch further down this treacherous path toward a health care system with the efficiency of the Postal Service and the compassion of the IRS, the Senate should apply the brakes and turn around. Lawmakers should heed the calls of the thousands of Americans who have flooded the Capitol switchboard in recent days: stop this bill for good and start over."
NTU is a nonpartisan, nonprofit citizen organization founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, smaller government, accountability from public officials, and economic freedom at all levels. Note: additional analyses of health care plans are available at www.ntu.org.