The Heritage Foundation’s Nina Owcharenko looks at the details of the Senate HELP Committee’s work on health care legislation. She reports that the committee voted on a party-line basis to defeat an amendment offered by Senator Tom Coburn that would have ensured health care money went to health care.
She writes:
The legislation offers only broad guidelines as to where the money can go and does not limit the size of the grant. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) offered an amendment that would prohibit the use of grant money to build and maintain sidewalks, parks, bike paths, or street lights. Other federal programs already direct money toward these projects. Dollars designated for improving the health-care system, Coburn argued, could be spent on far more constructive areas, such as increasing access to health care. Remarkably, Coburn’s amendment failed on a straight party-line vote, meaning taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars can wastefully go towards projects that are already funded by the federal government.
The legislation offers only broad guidelines as to where the money can go and does not limit the size of the grant. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) offered an amendment that would prohibit the use of grant money to build and maintain sidewalks, parks, bike paths, or street lights. Other federal programs already direct money toward these projects. Dollars designated for improving the health-care system, Coburn argued, could be spent on far more constructive areas, such as increasing access to health care. Remarkably, Coburn’s amendment failed on a straight party-line vote, meaning taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars can wastefully go towards projects that are already funded by the federal government.
