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Congressman Jim Gerlach (PA-6th District) personally delivered the massive House Democrat leadership plan for a federal government takeover of health care to libraries in Berks and Montgomery counties on Friday.

Gerlach visited the Mifflin Community Library in Shillington and Montgomery County-Norristown Library to make a copy of the legislation (H.R. 3269) available to the public.

The bill will also be available in several other communities throughout the district so that constituents can review it before a vote, which could come in the House as early as this week.

At 1,990-pages, the bill is nearly double the size of the original House health care bill (H.R. 3200), and the news Web site Politico reported the bill has more pages than War and Peace and five times as many words as the Torah.

“Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat leadership took H.R. 3200, which was a bad bill, and made it even worse,” the congressman said. “The nearly $1 trillion proposal would result in higher taxes for many of Pennsylvania’s 32,000 small businesses at a time when employment is climbing toward 10 percent. And a new tax on everything from bandages to wheel chairs would be especially harmful to medical device manufacturers in southeastern Pennsylvania, such as Siemens, Kensey Nash and other job providers.

“While the Democrat leadership made sure to include language regulating vending machines in their latest bill, it fails to address true reforms that would offer tax credits to expand access to insurance or increase competition to lower the cost of premiums. Also missing are limits on jackpot jury awards that have doctors ordering expensive tests to avoid often frivolous lawsuits.”

Below is a list of locations where residents will be able to read a copy of the health care bill:

Narberth Community Library
80 Windsor Avenue
Narberth, PA 19072
610-664-2878

Montogomery County – Norristown Public Library
1001 Powell Street
Norristown, PA 19401
610-278-5100

Pottstown Public Library
500 High Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
610-970-6551

Mifflin Community Library
6 Philadelphia Avenue
Shillington, PA 19607
610-777-3911

Louisa Gonser Community Library
70 Bieber Alley
Kutztown, PA 19530
610-683-5820

Honey Brook Community Library
687 Compass Road
PO Box 1082
Honey Brook, PA 19344
610-273-3303

Tredyffrin Public Library
582 Upper Gulph Road
Strafford-Wayne, PA 19087
610-688-7092

The bill is also available online here.

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