Over the course of the last year, the House and Senate thoroughly and publicly debated how best to make health care more affordable and accessible for American families and small businesses. This week, President Obama invited a bipartisan group of Members from the House and Senate for a public discussion on how best to achieve health insurance reform. We discussed substantive differences, but there were also areas of agreement among Democrats and Republicans – many of which are already included in the House and Senate-passed bills and the
President’s proposal. In the days and weeks ahead, I look forward to moving forward to accomplish the objectives we all agree on – the need to contain rising costs, reform insurance industry practices, and slow the growth of health care spending and its impact on the federal budget.
Next month, we will begin working our way through the budget process, looking to address our deficits and focus on fiscal responsibility. I was pleased to learn today that President Obama appointed members to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The proven leadership they bring to the table will be helpful as they work with Members of Congress to compromise and make the tough decisions our country’s fiscal future demands.
We also remain focused on our top priority of job creation. The Senate passed a jobs bill this week, and I was very encouraged that twelve Republicans chose to vote for it. I hope they and their colleagues will continue to work with us in a bipartisan way so that we can get a final bill to the President’s desk very soon.
