McCarthy: Pelosi's 1,900-page health care bill raises taxes, cuts Medicare and threatens businesses

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) shares  with us his week. In his words:

 "I had an exciting week as Congressman Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip, and I launched the new “WhipCast” application. The WhipCast is a new BlackBerry application that is available for everyone to keep up with what is going on in Congress through text, audio and video updates without clogging your email box. If you would like to download it, visit: http://republicanwhip.house.gov/WhipCast.
 On Thursday, Speaker Pelosi and Congressional Democratic leaders rolled out a 1,990 page health care bill (H.R. 3962), which I am reading over. Overall, this bill is worse than its predecessor (H.R. 3200). This version 2.0 of H.R. 3200 not only leads to a massive new $1.1 trillion spending program (much higher than the $984 billion reported earlier), but still leads to a risky government takeover of health care that could put a bureaucrat or politician between you and your doctor. While we all agree we need to fix America’s health care by bringing down the high costs that are hurting our economy, families, and businesses, most in our communities agree with the view that this is neither the answer nor the way forward. Also according to the Congressional Budget Office, the public option will not be a cheaper alternative, as it would charge higher premiums than private plans offer, which is no help to struggling middle class American families.
 "Here are some of my other concerns about Speaker Pelosi’s bill: it will raise taxes on middle class families, make significant cuts to Medicare, and increase taxes on job-creating small businesses. Also troubling is that states will be left paying for a significant portion of the bill. As Californians, we know our State is already tens of billions of dollars in deficit, doesn’t need a new federal mandate that will increase state spending and taxes. Finally, Speaker Pelosi’s bill does not consider some common sense solutions that would lower costs, like those that my colleagues and I have put forward, such as lawsuit abuse reform and allowing Americans to purchase health insurance across states lines, which the nearly 5,000 individuals who attended my town hall meetings this summer agreed with.

 "Like the Pelosi Health Care bill, recall earlier this year that the $1 trillion Democrat "stimulus" bill was also crafted behind closed doors. We all have seen over the last few months as our state has reached a record high unemployment rate that the stimulus has not created the jobs our economy needs. We must do better, and refocus on helping job creating small businesses.
 "A quick mention - In the Financial Services Committee this week, we had our 3rd straight week of reviewing bills in preparation for votes on the House floor. We considered several bills this week, and I had three separate amendments passed to increase transparency and accountability.