Washington, D.C.- Ways and Means Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI ) today made the following statement regarding Senator Baucus’s draft health care bill:

“It is clear the arbitrary time limits imposed by the Senate Democrat Leadership hindered Senator Baucus’ ability to produce a bipartisan bill that the American people could support.  That is unfortunate.  The Chairman should have been given the time he repeatedly requested to get the bill right; instead he was given an artificial deadline to meet.  I’m not sure we are any closer to making health care reform a reality, and that was the real harm caused when Senate leaders forced Senator Baucus to rush forward without a bipartisan agreement.  As introduced, the bill fails to respond to the concerns expressed by the American people by spending too much, increasing the role of the federal government too much, and raising too many taxes.  Given our unemployment and the massive increase in the federal deficit, this bill cannot be enacted.”

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