Edwards votes against reconciliation measure

U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, on Monday voted against The Reconciliation Act of 2010 in a House Budget Committee meeting.

Edwards earlier voted against the House version of the bill.

The measure passed 21-16

“At a time of massive federal deficits, I believe these bills could make those deficits worse,” Edwards said in a conference call before the meeting. “In budget committee today [Monday], I am voting against using the reconciliation process to pass the Senate bill.

“I am especially disappointed that my common sense proposal for a fiscal trigger was not included in the House or Senate bills. No one can predict with absolute certainty the new costs and cost savings of such a massive reform bill over 10 to 20 years. That is why I believed it was critical to include a trigger to automatically reduce the costs of the bill if the projections turned out to be wrong, particularly since our nation is facing serious federal deficits.

“Over the past year, I have listened to thousands of people all across our district on the issue of health care reform. What I have heard is that people generally like the quality of their present health care and don’t want big government or big insurance companies to stand between them and their doctors.

“They also believe we must do something about ever higher health care costs that are hurting families and small businesses. I agree and that is why I had hoped Congress would develop a bipartisan health care reform plan I could support. However, I will not vote for any health care reform bill, unless I believe it is the right thing to do.”