Participants:
- Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
- Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)
- Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN)
- Republican Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)

Multimedia:

Audio  |  Video  |  Photos

Transcript:
 
Conference Chairman Pence:
 
Good morning.
 
House Republicans just completed our weekly meeting in the House Republican Conference, and we are determined to stand in the gap at this moment in history on behalf of the American people, and we are determined as Republicans to focus on that issue which is of paramount importance to the American people.  Certainly energy independence is a priority for America, and certainly health care reform ought to be done in a responsible and comprehensive way.  But first and foremost, the American people are asking the question: where are the jobs?
 
House Republicans are determined to stand up and demand that this Congress focus on efforts to restore our nation’s economy.  The recent national energy tax passed by Democrats on Capitol Hill and the plan for a government takeover of our health care system paid for with over a trillion dollars in tax increases would be a disaster for this economy and a disaster for working Americans.  House Republicans are determined to step forward and demand that this Congress focus on putting this country back on its feet economically and take the time that we need to develop solutions in energy and in health care that would be responsible, but first and foremost do no harm to this already challenged economy.

Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers:
 
Good morning.
 
You know, we can pass health care reform without increasing taxes or costing jobs. Now, the health care bill currently before us – this version – has been called by many a ‘prescription for failure.’ A prescription for failure as it relates to actually controlling cost, actually making healthcare affordable. A prescription for failure in the impact that it’s going to have on our economy. Now you hear it from governors across the country who are saying ‘this bill is only going to increase costs.’ You hear it from the Mayo Clinic who said this bill misses the opportunity. Misses the opportunity to help create higher quality, affordable health plans. They said, in fact, it will do the opposite. CBO last week said that it would worsen our economic outlook by increasing deficits and driving our nation more deeply into debt.
 
There are many reasons to be skeptical of this version of health care reform. The jobs lost, the additional debt and government intrusion into that doctor-patient relationship. Now, some continue to say ‘well, we have to do something.’ I want to submit to you that when you are sick or when your son or daughter is sick you don’t want the doctor to just ‘do something’ you want the doctor to make the right assessment and issue the right prescription. That’s what we need now – we need the right prescription. We support reforms to health care, we support taking the Medicare and Medicaid fraud out of the system. We support medical liability reform. We’d like to challenge America to be healthy through wellness and prevention and we can provide affordable options to our small business owners and to our individuals all across this country. They’re the ones that are uninsured and there are options available. Let’s work together to get the right prescription for health care reform.
 
Republican Whip Cantor:
 
Good morning.
 
This is it. The time is now.  The public will see over the course of the next two weeks whether this House is serious about health care reform.  What we’re seeing currently is a bipartisan majority has formed against the current proposal. There is no question we are at a crossroads as far as healthcare reform is concerned in this Congress. Either this bill fails or it will change dramatically. And if the bill fails, it will be because of disagreement among the Democrats as to the proper direction to head as far as health care reform is concerned.  The disagreement on the other side of the aisle reflects the growing fear among Americans about the potential for a government take-over of our health care system.  But, we are at a crossroads, this Administration, this President has no one else to blame.  They have no straw man, they have no press conferences left.  What they ought to be doing is coming to work with us to reflect a much more reasoned approach to try and accomplish healthcare reform for the American people.
 
If we’re going to pass health care reform, if this is going to pass so many questions need to be answered.  How is it that we are going to go and take away from patients the ability to keep the healthcare they have?  Cause that’s what this bill does.  It takes it away.  How is it that we are going to help this economy by crippling small businesses and posing a tax to pay for this health care reform?  How is it that somehow we are restraining health care costs by increasing government expenditure?  And how is it that somehow we’re going to get to sustainable health care reform by loading up tens of billions, if not more of debt?  Actually hundreds of billions of more debt on our children. Those are the questions before us. We stand ready to work with the other side to bring a bipartisan majority to actually deliver on really sustainable health care reform.
 
Rep. Marsha Blackburn:
 
Eric mentioned that there is bipartisan opposition to the plan that is before us and many of you may have noticed Tennessee is the state where there is much of that bipartisan opposition. You might even have heard our current Governor make the comment this weekend that passage of the President’s health care bill would be the mother of unfunded mandates. Now, there is a reason that we in Tennessee oppose this. It’s because we already know how a public option plan works out. In 1994, Tennessee was the test case for public-option health care. It was put in place by the executive order of the office of the Governor. And what we have seen was a plan, that was a 2 billion dollar plan, grow to over 8 billion dollars and consume 36% of the state’s budget. So we know how this turns out. That’s why there is bipartisan opposition.
 
We in Tennessee know that this plan is too expensive to afford and then it will soon by followed by “well, but it’s too big to fail” and it leads you down the road to more government bailouts. We know that what this does – that when you have the government-run healthcare you cripple access and the cost skyrockets just like it did in Tennessee. We do not want that for America. We want to get to the core issue which is, how do we preserve access to affordable, quality health care for all Americans? How do we address the cost and access issues? We know that the plan that is being brought forward – the tri-committee bill, the Senate bill – is not going to get us there. It is going to get us further away.
 
We are committed to making certain that we preserve access to affordable, quality health care for Americans. We stand working. The Democrats that are opposing this bill – we welcome the opportunity to work with them because we know public option health care does not lead to greater health care access.
 
Republican Leader Boehner:
 
Well, the President today is going to begin his barnstorming session to try to convince the American people that his plan for health care is the right prescription for a system that is ailing. But most Americans understand that the problem with our health care system is that it costs too much. And secondly, that there’s not affordable access for some in our current system. So if the number one issue is that health care costs too much, why is it that the President is proposing a bill that will spend nearly two trillion dollars more? I know the bill says, the CBO says—Congressional Budget Office—that this bill will cost a trillion and 18 billion dollars. But what’s not included in that trillion and 18 billion dollars is the 239 billion rescore that came back from the Congressional Budget Office over the weekend, it doesn’t include the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid—estimated to be 500-600 billion dollars over the next 10 years, it doesn’t included the employer mandate or the individual mandate that are included in this bill. The employer mandate was estimated to be about a 400 billion dollar cost on small employers around the country. And so, how do we deal with a cost problem when the President has a bill that will cost 2 trillion dollars more?
 
Secondly, why do we have to have the government in charge of our healthcare? We don’t need this big bureaucracy here in Washington to control what kind of care doctors prescribe to their patients. We don’t need some health czar here in Washington making decisions about how states will implement the kind of health care reform that needs to happen in those states. And lastly, and almost as bad, is that this bill will kill about 5 million jobs in America. At a time when the American people are asking “where are the jobs,” this bill is estimated to cost our economy 4.7 million jobs. Listen, at a time when the American people are looking for employment, hoping to keep their job—the ‘stimulus’ bill isn’t working, they’ve brought along this health care bill that will cost 5 million jobs, and they’ve brought this cap and trade bill up last month that will cost us two and a half million jobs each year for the next ten years. This is not what the American people want.
 
So Mr. President, it’s time to scrap this bill. Let’s start over in a bipartisan way. And I’m encouraged that there are members on my side of the aisle working with Democrats trying to find a way forward. There’s a bipartisan way to solve the cost problems in health care and to insure affordable access for more Americans, and it’s only going to happen if we can work together.