{"id":9067,"date":"2009-11-08T21:04:52","date_gmt":"2009-11-09T04:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=9067"},"modified":"2009-11-09T08:05:00","modified_gmt":"2009-11-09T15:05:00","slug":"teague%e2%80%99s-vote-against-health-bill-wasn%e2%80%99t-a-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/11\/teague%e2%80%99s-vote-against-health-bill-wasn%e2%80%99t-a-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Teague vote against health bill wasn\u2019t a surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"U.S.

U.S. Rep. Harry Teague (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

It wasn\u2019t really a surprise when U.S. Rep. Harry Teague<\/a>, D-N.M., announced Friday that he planned to vote against the health care bill that ended up narrowly passing the House<\/a> on Saturday. The bill was unpopular among many of Teague\u2019s constituents, and he had already made one unpopular vote in favor of the cap-and-trade bill<\/a> that passed the House earlier this year.<\/p>\n

In fact, the Washington Post\u2019s Chris Cillizza<\/a> pointed out after Saturday\u2019s vote that Teague was one of 31 House Democrats voting against the bill whose districts were won by Republican John McCain last year.<\/p>\n

Teague has also been expressing concern<\/a> about the costs associated with the bill for months.<\/p>\n

Politics aside, Teague said Friday, in announcing he was voting against the bill, that his decision was based on the fact that the bill \u201cdoesn\u2019t do enough to rein in insurance companies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Teague\u2019s full statement, followed by the statements released by New Mexico\u2019s other House members, who both voted in favor of the bill.<\/p>\n

Teague\u2019s statement<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLet me be clear, I believe we need to reform our\u00a0health care system. I personally know how not having health insurance can impact individuals and families. Growing up, both my parents worked, but we still couldn\u2019t afford health insurance. So when my parents got sick, I had to drop out of high school and go to work to help support our family. Those were difficult times and why as a\u00a0small business owner\u00a0I worked hard to provide\u00a0affordable health insurance\u00a0options to my employees and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had hoped to have an opportunity to vote for a\u00a0health insurance reform bill\u00a0that would guarantee every American access to affordable, quality health care, and rein in the skyrocketing\u00a0health care costs\u00a0that are keeping people and businesses out of the system and driving up our\u00a0national debt. Unfortunately, the current bill before Congress falls short of that and I am left with no choice but to vote against it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill doesn\u2019t do enough to rein in\u00a0insurance companies. It mandates millions of people and businesses to buy health insurance, but does little to make insurance companies control consumer costs. I am also concerned that American taxpayers will end up footing a nearly $900 billion tab for a bill that doesn\u2019t do enough to \u2018bend the cost curve\u2019 in a way that permanently reduces both costs and the national debt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to Washington with\u00a0personal experience\u00a0of how a\u00a0health care crisis\u00a0can impact a family and with a commitment to getting this kind of misguided spending under control. Health insurance reform\u00a0is too important to settle for a bill that appears to be a temporary fix that guarantees more money for insurance companies and a bigger national debt, but in the end doesn\u2019t lower the cost of health care for\u00a0New Mexico families\u00a0and businesses. I intend to continue pushing for reform that lowers the cost of health insurance for families and businesses in a fiscally responsible way.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Martin

Martin Heinrich<\/p><\/div>
\nStatement from U.S. Rep. <\/strong>Martin Heinrich<\/strong><\/a>, D-N.M.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a truly historic vote. We are now as close as we have ever been to providing\u00a0quality health care\u00a0to all Americans and to reforming our broken\u00a0health insurance system. The\u00a0Affordable Health Care\u00a0for America Act represents a uniquely American solution to our\u00a0nation\u2019s health insurance crisis. The legislation will bring peace of mind to New Mexico\u2019s working families, seniors and\u00a0small business owners\u00a0by guaranteeing stability, lowering costs, improving quality and providing a greater choice of plans.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Heinrich also released video<\/a> of a statement he gave on the House floor Saturday during debate of the bill.<\/p>\n

\"Ben

Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n<\/p><\/div>\n

Statement from U.S. Rep. <\/strong>Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n<\/strong><\/a>, D-N.M.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Affordable Health Care for America Act will take significant steps to reform our broken\u00a0health insurance system\u00a0that makes it too difficult for families to find affordable,\u00a0accessible health insurance. Right now, too many families are being hurt by out-of-control\u00a0health insurance bills, too many individuals are being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, and too many small businesses are struggling with a costly and inefficient system. This legislation will end insurance company discrimination and cherry-picking, make coverage more affordable and provide more options for consumers. It will level the playing field between\u00a0insurance companies\u00a0and consumers. And while the final public option may not be perfect, I believe it will be an important tool to increase choice and competition.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It wasn\u2019t really a surprise when U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M., announced Friday that he planned to vote against the health care bill that ended up narrowly passing the House on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[117,116],"class_list":["post-9067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-health-care","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}