As a key House committee voted Monday to advance the Obama administration’s health care reform plan, a Wisconsin congressman repeated his longstanding objections to the direction the legislation is taking.
“It didn’t have to be this way, and it doesn’t have to stay this way” said Representative Paul Ryan. “At the Blair House summit, Vice President Biden claimed that we aren’t qualified to speak for the American people. I respectfully disagreed then, and I respectfully disagree now. The people we represent, and I’d suspect most of here, passionately believe that we need to fix what’s broken in health care. But I don’t believe that this is the way to do it.”
The House Budget Committee voted 21 to 16 to send the health care legislation to the House Rules Committee, which is expected to meet Thursday to draft new language for the reconciliation bill. Ryan, a Janesville Republican, said the reform package will lead to rationing, and used an example from his only family to illustrate the point. “If my mother-in-law, who is fighting stage three ovarian cancer, couldn’t have gotten the Avastin that she gets right now, she wouldn’t be with us today,” Ryan said. “Well guess what? If she was a British citizen, you can’t get it, if you have ovarian cancer. That’s why we oppose this.”
Rep. Paul Ryan (:20 MP3) AUDIO: Rep. Paul Ryan (:20 MP3)
