January 18, 2011

TO THE MEMBERS OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation

representing the interests of more than three million businesses and organizations of
every size, sector and region, supports H.R. 2, the “Repealing the Job-killing Health
Care Law Act,” and the related H. Res. 9.

At the outset, let me reiterate the Chamber’s call to Congress to approve

workable, meaningful health reform. The Chamber believes real, market-based
solutions to lower the costs of health care, cover more of the uninsured, and improve
the quality of care are long overdue. To achieve this goal, the Chamber believes a
strong, bipartisan bill is a necessity.

However, the health care law approved by Congress and signed into law by
President Obama last year, P.L. 111-148, the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act,” is a fundamentally flawed approach. The law does little to achieve one of the
primary goals of health care reform: to “bend the health care cost curve downwards.”
It imposes mandates and penalties on businesses that discourage job growth,
increases taxes and burdens on small businesses, creates dangerous new entitlements
while cutting Medicare, and creates new plan requirements that will increase costs.

Since the bill was enacted in March of 2010, Chamber members have begun
to feel the effect of the new law and many of the fears expressed by the business
community have been confirmed. For example, the virtual inability to “grandfather”
current plans is but one example of the problems created by the law that are causing
angst among employers. Chamber members also question how they will be able to
comply with the law and its crushing regulatory burden in the unreasonable and
compressed time frame it provides.

The Chamber urged Congress to step back and start over on bipartisan
legislation in 2009 and 2010. We renew this call now. H.R. 2 and H. Res. 9 would
begin this process. H.R. 2 would undo the problems of P.L. 111-114, and H. Res. 9
would initiate the process of crafting much needed, meaningful and bipartisan health
care reform legislation. The Chamber may include votes on, or in relation to,
H.R. 2 and H. Res. 9 in our annual How They Voted scorecard.

Sincerely,

R. Bruce Josten