For Immediate Release: December 21, 2009
Bouchard: Health-care bill a budget-buster for Michigan
Oakland County- Mike Bouchard, Republican candidate for governor, issued the following statement regarding the health-care legislation before the U.S. Senate:
“The Senate’s health-care bill is a massive unfunded mandate from Washington, D.C., that Michigan can ill afford. I call on Sens. Levin and Stabenow to oppose this bill, which would force states to greatly expand their Medicaid programs without the commensurate funding from the federal government.
“Michigan residents already have experienced significant state budget cuts, and more can be expected. If the health-care bill passes, we will be guaranteed even deeper cuts to existing programs, such as education and public safety, because our state will be forced to budget more for Medicaid expansion.
“Besides being a state budget-buster, this mandate will force many small businesses to cut back on hours and jobs for employees to avoid having to pay for more costly mandated benefits.
“Because the economy is in serious trouble and unemployment is hurting people across our state, we can’t afford to have the federal government make things worse. As governor, I’ll be the first in line to oppose anything that will hurt our businesses’ ability to create jobs and will stand up to the federal government’s overreach.”
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Paid for by Mike Bouchard for Governor
P.O. Box 1433
Royal Oak, MI 48068
