A vote in the 'nay' column

Levittown - EVESHAM - Congressman John Adler has aligned himself with Democrats who oppose the health care reform bill up for vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Adler released a statement Friday that he is against the bill because of costs and doubts about its long-term effectiveness.

"The House health care bill, unveiled last week, does not do enough to contain costs or protect small businesses, seniors, taxpayers and middle-class families," Adler said in the statement. "While this new version of the bill is a step in the right direction, I am not satisfied that it curbs costs and keeps health care affordable in the long term."

Adler, D-3rd of Cherry Hill, has also said he would vote no on a previous House health reform package for similar reasons, notably that it didn't do enough to control costs.

"Congress should not pass a bill that costs more than $1 trillion. Health care costs are rising faster than wages and inflation and this bill does not change this trend," he said. "If health care reform does not bend the cost curve and reduce waste and fraud, then we are not fixing the problem. We are simply pushing the cost onto future generations."

About a dozen protesters from groups such as the 9-12 Project and the Independence Hall Tea Party Association milled about in the parking lot of Adler's office on North Maple Avenue about 1 p.m., having planned to rally for the congressman to vote against the bill.

Those assembled realized their rally had become unnecessary once they were provided with Adler's statement.

"We came here to make sure that Adler stands by his word to vote against the health care bill, which is what he said he would do. We showed up around (noon) and by 12:30 they came outside with a press release that says he's going to stick to his word and vote against the bill," said William Green, vice president of the Independence Hall Tea Party Association, with his bullhorn hanging quietly at his side.

"Now we're just here to chat about it. We're not going to make a lot of noise if he's on our side, but we want to make sure he knows our presence is here," Green said. "He's staying on our side on this one here, but this is what political vigilance is about. Just because he says one thing, a lot of times they do another. So we need to make sure he knows we mean business as conservatives."

The latest version of the Democrat-proposed health care reform bill, HR 3962, a document now spanning more than 2,000 pages, was introduced Oct. 29.

Contact: dmaccar@phillyBurbs.com or 609-871-8068

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