Hartzler: ObamaCare is a bad buy at any price

In a news release issued today, Vicky Hartzler, a candidate for Fourth District Congress, ripped into incumbent Ike Skelton's support of the federal  health care package:

When Democrat Congressman Ike Skelton was helping Nancy Pelosi cram ObamaCare down our throats (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll129.xml), the backers of government-run medicine promised a price tag below $1 trillion.

Republican congressional candidate Vicky Hartzler is seeking the GOP nomination to challenge 34-year House member Skelton.

Hartzler today called “false!” on the claimed price tag, citing a revised Congressional Budget Office estimate reported by ABC. (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/05/cbo-health-care-bill-will-cost-115-billion-more-than-previously-assessed.html)

Hartzler said: “Government-controlled health care is a bad buy at any price. The now-admitted cost overrun of government-run healthcare is $115 billion. Mr. Skelton is directly culpable in cramming ObamaCare down our throats. On March 18, with the final forced passage vote in the House fast approaching, Republicans and more than two dozen Democrats teamed up against Nancy Pelosi’s plan to impose passage prior to Easter break on rules to be dictated by the Speaker. Skelton voted with Pelosi and against the plain will of the Fourth District. His vote was typical Washington double-dealing and double-talk: help it happen while claiming otherwise.  Just because Nancy Pelosi changed her strategy and allowed a vote on the final passage of the bill does not negate the fact that he helped her when she needed him.  His vote once again shows how he sides with Nancy Pelosi--not his district.  Our district deserves better.

“As a lockstep Pelosi vote, Skelton has voted for and supported Obama’s radical and destructive economic policies every step of the way. He voted for Obama’s disastrous budget deficits, the vast spending spree that is ruining this nation’s finances, the horrifying increases in the national debt, and the biggest tax increase in American history, the job-killing national energy tax.

“On ObamaCare, when Pelosi’s cram-it-down plan was challenged, Skelton could have stood up for the Fourth District, to block this horrible bill. Instead, he voted with Nancy Pelosi, just like he does more than 90% of the time.

“One Missouri newspaper ‘explained’ Skelton’s willing-accomplice vote for government-run health care (http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/21770) as his ‘special obligation’ to his political party.

“If I am elected, my obligation will be to the people of our district, where we pay too many job-killing taxes already, where we understand the government needs to stop the ruinous spending, and where the uncompromising will for immediate change runs strong and true.

“As for ObamaCare, I will vote to repeal this ill-conceived bill with its increased costs to health care, anti-job tax increases and huge Medicare cuts for seniors, and work to replace it with common sense changes to empower consumers and lower costs such as full competition for insurance companies, lawsuit reform, transparency in pricing, and increased access to health care for all patients.”