Toomey for Senate

Allentown, PA – U.S. Senate candidate Pat Toomey sent a letter to Senator Arlen Specter this morning urging him to reject an effort by his Democratic colleagues to push government-run health care through Congress and to embrace bipartisan reforms instead.  The letter is below.
 
Senator Arlen Specter
711 Hart Bldg            
Washington, DC 20510
 
February 19, 2010
 
Dear Senator Specter:
 
Recently, eighteen of your Democratic colleagues, led by Senators Michael Bennet of Colorado and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, signed a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid urging him to bring the government health care option back up for a vote, using reconciliation rules to push the measure through the Senate with only fifty-one votes.
 
I am writing to urge you to reject this effort by your colleagues and to pursue a more bipartisan approach to health care reform instead.
 
Your position on government-run health care has shifted over the past year.  When you first became a Democrat, you opposed both reconciliation and the government option.
 
Reconciliation: On April 28, 2009, you said, “I am opposed to reconciliation to be used for health care or for any other substantive legislative issue.” (April 28, 2009)
 
Health Care: On May 3, 2009, on Meet the Press, you said you opposed a public government-run health care plan. (Meet the Press, 05/03/09)
 
Two months later you came out in support of a government option on June 25, 2009, saying “I think Senator Schumer has the right idea about having a public component which has a level playing field with the private sector, but the public component can be included.” (June 25, 2009, Union rally, Allentown Morning Call, Pennsylvania Ave. Blog) 
 
Since then you have become one of the government option’s most ardent advocates.  And you have also come out in support of using reconciliation to push the bill through Congress.
 
However, while you have shifted your position dramatically in favor of this approach, it has become abundantly clear over the past several months that the country has rejected a government-run option and the extreme partisanship that has taken over Washington.  There are many good reasons people across Pennsylvania and the country rejected the health care bill. 
 
The bill contains billions of dollars in tax increases on individuals, businesses, and the health care sector.

The bill contains numerous sweetheart deals for Democratic Senators Ben Nelson, Bernie Sanders, and Mary Landrieu in order to secure their votes.

The government option would push millions of people off their private health care plans and onto government-run health care.
 
So I urge you to resist the temptation to join your Democratic colleagues in an effort to ram through this terrible bill in a partisan manner through extraordinary procedural maneuvers. 
 
We all agree that health care reform is badly needed.  But we need to do it in a way that allows people to keep the health insurance they currently have, lowers the cost of care, strengthens the relationship between patients and doctors, and gives individuals more independence to make their own health care decisions.
 
The government option does none of those things.  That is why I have suggested a number of proposals in the spirit of bipartisan reform.  First, Congress should eliminate the unfair discrimination against individually purchased health insurance in our tax code.  Second, we should let people buy insurance across state lines to increase choice and lower costs.  Third, we should pass reasonable tort reform to lower the cost of defensive medicine and encourage more people to join the medical profession.  And fourth, we should let small businesses and organizations band together to form associations that would be able to buy health insurance on behalf of their members.
 
These are just a few ideas that would help increase access to health care and lower costs, and would garner bipartisan support.  I hope you will reject your colleagues’ extreme partisan approach and embrace a bipartisan path that will truly help the people of Pennsylvania.
 
Sincerely,

Pat Toomey