U.S. Chamber Urges Senate to Jettison Irresponsible Health Care Bill

There is a broad consensus that this bill is wrong for America

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Bruce Josten, executive vice president for Government Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, issued the following statement in response to the Senate's first vote to move toward passing a health care bill:

"Now that sixty Senators have decided against using their opportunity to improve the latest version of health care reform, it appears the concerns of the broader business community will not be addressed. We recognize the inclusion of a few improvements in the nearly 400-page Manager's Amendment, which was revealed Saturday morning and voted on Sunday night. However, slightly increasing the threshold for minor small business tax credits is more than cancelled out by significantly increasing the payroll surtax and the addition of a new voucher system that will devastate those same small businesses."

"We are disappointed that Senators would be willing to trade their votes for favors to their states, despite knowing that this bill will create considerable new burdens for the states' job creators and will do nothing to lift us out of the current economic quagmire. We concur with a broad array of groups from all across the spectrum that say this bill is no good – the Senate should reject this trillion dollar bill that raises taxes by $500 billion, and instead design a targeted bill that addresses health care cost without killing jobs or denying care to Medicare patients. Start over."

The U.S. Chamber is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.

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