A press release from the office of U.S. Rep. John Kline:

WASHINGTON –- Minnesota Congressman John Kline strongly opposed Speaker Pelosi’s proposed government takeover of health care (H.R. 3962) that passed tonight in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Pelosi health care bill will cost at least $1.3 trillion and includes $730 billion in new taxes and $500 billion in cuts to Medicare.

“For nearly four months, Americans have voiced their overwhelming concerns with a government takeover of health care, yet majority leadership in Congress recklessly plugged its ears today and rammed through a health care bill that leads to new government mandates, bureaucratic red tape, and stifling tax increases,” said Kline on Saturday. “What passed today fails to even come close to the commonsense, bipartisan reform the American people need and deserve.”

The consequences of the Pelosi health care bill include:

- Americans who like their employer-provided health care will lose it.

- Seniors who depend upon Medicare coverage – especially Medicare Advantage – will lose it.

- Taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for massive new entitlement spending.

- Small businesses will be taxed, and taxed, and taxed again.

- Employers will face new state court liability.

- Federal bureaucrats will determine what health care coverage is “acceptable.”

- Millions of Americans will be pushed into a new, government-run plan modeled on broken government entitlement programs.

- Millions more Americans will be forced into a broken Medicaid system.

- Government-run health care will continue to underpay hospitals, making it difficult for patients to get care and driving up costs in the rest of the system.

- Junk lawsuits will persist in promoting defensive medicine and passing higher costs on to patients.

“This big government approach fails to abide by an important standard set by President Obama at the beginning of this debate – his pledge that Americans can keep the health care they like,” Kline said. “It is clear the Pelosi health care bill will disrupt coverage for millions of families who have health insurance and seniors who rely on Medicare. It is equally clear that Americans cannot afford the uncertainty and increased costs that come with such a massive disruption to our health care system.”

In his fourth term in Congress, Congressman Kline is the Senior Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee. He is also a member of the House Armed Services Committee.