Bill Nelson stuck with his fellow Democrats in voting to move ahead on health care legislation today, earning him plaudits from AARP Florida. The legislation, state director Lori Parham says, will help "protect guaranteed Medicare benefits and help millions of older Americans overcome the challenges of accessing affordable, quality health services."
The group, she says, is "disappointed that Sen. LeMieux voted to block action on this important bill."
Running against each other for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat now held by LeMieux — Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio each panned the legislation.
Crist: "I am thoroughly disappointed that votes on an issue affecting 1/6 of the American economy were traded in for sweetheart deals and a rushed vote in the middle of the night. Despite the majority of Americans’ strong objections to the current health reform bill, Harry Reid and Congressional Democrats decided to go it alone and push it through the Senate on a straight party-line vote.
"The plan will cripple state economies and add half a trillion dollars in new taxes on top of half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts. All of this translates to increased health costs on the backs of American taxpayers and decreased benefits for our seniors: that is not reform. The American people deserve better."
Rubio: "Early this morning, Senate Democrats took the first of four significant votes this week to approve their disastrous health care policy. Especially during these difficult economic times, Senate Democrats are making a mistake by ramming through a big government health care plan that will raise taxes on the American people, boost premiums and and fees, increase regulation, cut Medicare and put states on the financial hook for an expansion of Medicaid. All this government spending represents not just a wave of
larger budget deficits in the making, but also crippling tax increases to foot the bill.
"What’s going on in Washington is neither a debate nor the new era of politics that this President and Democrat Congress promised us. It’s not even politics as usual. What's going on in Washington today is the new manifestation of the very worst aspects of the failed cynical politics of the past, combined with policies that will lead America towards an unexceptional future. Floridians deserve better than this 2,700-page health care bill that is being rammed through by President Obama and Harry Reid.
"As 2009 winds down, I urge the Senate to do no harm to our health system and economy by scrapping its current plan toward a government-run, deficit spending, tax-hiking bureaucratic nightmare. They should instead pursue common-sense reforms that will truly reduce costs, increase options and leave doctors and patients in charge of their health care decisions."
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