Bennet: Now’s the Time to Stand Up for Future Generations, Enact Health Care, Fiscal Reform that Expands Opportunity for Coloradans

In Senate Floor Speech, Bennet Highlights Urgent Need for Health Care Reform that Helps Families and Small Businesses, Restores America’s Fiscal Health

Highlights Need for Common-Sense Budgeting Mechanism Like PAYGO and Deficit Reduction Act of 2009 to Bring Fiscal Discipline to Washington

Bennet: We Owe More to Our Kids Than to Leave Them a Huge National Debt and No Plan to Get Out of It

Washington, DC – Tying the urgent need for health care reform to the long-term imperative of restoring the country’s fiscal health, Michael Bennet, U.S. Senator for Colorado, delivered a speech urging his colleagues to do right by future generations and begin the difficult work of putting America’s fiscal house back in order.

Citing the increasing toll rising health care costs are taking on Colorado’s working families, small businesses and the country’s fiscal bottom line, Bennet called on Washington to recognize its responsibility to expand, not limit, opportunities for current and future generations and make the difficult decisions necessary to get America’s deficits and debts under control.

Bennet also urged Congress to adopt two bills he has introduced that would provide common-sense frameworks for bringing the budget under control: statutory PAYGO, which will help restore fiscal discipline to Washington by ensuring any proposal to create new spending is paid for, and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2009, which would limit the amount of money that Congress can spend on year-to-year choices and place a yearly cap on the deficit, while fully protecting Social Security and Veterans benefits.

“If we fail to confront the tough issues so we can control the cost of health care, we will have squandered this narrow window of opportunity,” said Bennet. “If we fail to step up to the plate and pass a fiscally sound health care reform bill, this Congress will be remembered for years to come as having let down the country. If we fail – not just to stop digging this deep fiscal hole, but to put a process in place for climbing back up to solid fiscal footing – we will have failed to perform as the stewards of our children’s dreams.”