Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement late Saturday night following the passage of the House Democrats’ health care reform bill. Here’s the full text:
“Today with help from their liberal House allies, President Obama and Nancy Pelosi finally got what they have been creating behind closed doors these past months – a government-run health care experiment that will increase families’ health care costs, increase the deficit, increase taxes on small businesses and the middle class, and cut Medicare. As the elections in Virginia and New Jersey clearly showed, the American people oppose bigger government, more federal spending, and higher taxes. Broad, bipartisan opposition to this bill was on full display this evening, and the Democrats who ultimately voted for Nancy Pelosi’s liberal health care plan will have to answer to their constituents.
“Nancy Pelosi and her liberal lieutenants made a lot of promises today to get the votes they desperately needed. Make no mistake – the Democrat leadership’s assurances were based on political expediency, not principle. Anyone receiving a promise from Pelosi is guaranteed to be disappointed in the end when their votes are no longer needed.
“Americans want a common-sense bipartisan approach to health care reform, not President Obama’s and Nancy Pelosi’s costly, 1,990-page government-run experiment on our nation’s health care system. The House Republican solution to health care reform is the right direction for America, but Nancy Pelosi had no interest in bipartisanship, choosing instead to force her costly government-run experiment on the American people.”
