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Repeats promise to oppose bill that 
subsidizes or mandates abortion coverage

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) promised today that she would not vote for any healthcare reform bill that she had not read and that had not been publicly available for at least 72 hours.

“Americans’ healthcare is much too important for Congress to pass legislation in a blind rush or under the cloak of secrecy.  I promise that I will not support any legislation that the American people have not had an opportunity to review and weigh in on. 

“I also promise that under no circumstances will I vote for a bill that does not specifically forbid taxpayer funded abortion or that mandates insurance coverage of abortion.  Taxpayer funded abortion is a profound offense to the conscience of millions and millions of Americans and such policies have no place in a healthcare reform bill.”

Yesterday, House Democrats unveiled a healthcare overhaul bill that will cost more than $1 trillion.  The bill imposes a 2.5 percent tax on everyone who does not obtain health coverage through their employer or does not purchase government-approved insurance policies. 

The bill also levies a tax on small businesses that cannot afford to offer health insurance to their employees.  Additionally, more than half of the bill’s $1 trillion price tag will be paid by so-called “high income tax filers.”  As a result of this tax hike hundreds of thousands of small businesses will see a significantly higher tax burden. 

“This legislation is going to harm the single largest source of job creation in America—small businesses,” Foxx said.  “Small businesses are the engine of economic growth and it makes no sense to penalize the sector of our economy that offers the best hope for a swift economic recovery.”

Note: According to a Wall Street Journal story today, “businesses with between five and nine workers, representing about one million employers, had an average payroll of around $375,000 a year. A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that only about half of firms with three to nine workers offered health benefits in 2008.”  Under the House Democrats’ healthcare bill about half of these small businesses would pay a new tax on their total payrolls if they did not start to offer health insurance.