Steele: Health Care's Passage Represents 'The End Of Representative Government'

RNC Chairman Michael Steele released a statement today following the passage of the House health care reform bill. Here's the full text:

"Today, America witnessed the first vote for the end of representative government. Congressional Democrats said no to the will of the American people and voted yes to President Obama's $2.5 trillion government run health care system. The President, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are the architects of a system that encourages out of control spending, increased national debt and does nothing to control the cost of health care. Americans across the country made their voices heard and flatly rejected this legislation loaded with special deals and tax increases, but Democrats did not listen and instead chose to force this bill through because they believe they know what's best for the American people.

The simple truth is this bill will allow taxpayer dollars to pay for elective abortions, as confirmed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and that the Executive Order negotiated by Rep. Bart Stupak does nothing to trump the language in the bill. It is, at best, a ruse. Further, the bill will cause 9 million people to lose the insurance they have now; it will increase the deficit by over a hundred billion dollars when all the components (including the physician fee schedule change) are included; it will increase taxes by $569 Billion; it will cut Medicare by $524 Billion; it will increase premiums by 10 percent for people without employer-based insurance; and, it will create a new marriage penalty with new income and investment taxes. And after all the spending has been done and the bill is fully implemented, 23 million people will still be uninsured in 2019."

The American people are sick of the blatant arrogance of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and the Senate Majority Leader Reid. Congressional Democrats can be sure that voters in their districts will not forget this vote that will negatively affect Americans for generations to come. It is time to fire Nancy Pelosi and send a message to President Obama that it's time to stop their partisan liberal agenda of government takeovers and start working for Americans to create jobs and grow our economy."