Floor Statements

Offered By: Mr. Gardner

Amendment No. 81: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Offered By: Mr. Gardner

Amendment No. 82: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

I thank the gentleman from Illinois for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 72 and of Congress' new emphasis on oversight. Over the past few years, Federal agencies have promulgated a litany of rules and regulations with little regard for their impact on American businesses, jobs, and everyday American workers.

Last week, I met with a business in my district that employs nearly 1,000 people. They expressed their concern that the onslaught of rules and regulations threaten our energy infrastructure, power stability, and electricity costs. In other words, reckless regulation threatens their very existence.

I met with a business that employs 53 people, whose owners said they won't expand because they don't know what the cost of health care regulations will mean to their business.

At a committee hearing just yesterday before the Energy and Commerce Committee, businesses stated that the regulatory environment is hindering investment in our economy, not promoting it.

In Colorado, Federal regulations that could usurp the State's role over energy production may stop the creation of jobs that are set to employ thousands of people in northern Colorado.

It's time for Congress to listen to the voices that are America, that move our country, feed our country, power our country, and make our country great. It is time to put an end to reckless regulation.

If there are 1.5 million jobs to be created, then let's get started creating them. But let's not turn to the role of government to regulate people out of business to create other jobs. That's not the job of the Federal Government. Let's put an end to reckless regulation.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I rise to honor the 141st anniversary of the founding of Colorado State University, located in Fort Collins, Colorado.

On February 11, 1870, Colorado Territorial Governor Edward McCook signed the Morrill Act establishing the State Agricultural College in Fort Collins. In its 141 years, Colorado State University has grown to over 26,000 students, 1,400 faculty members, and has become one of the Nation's leading research universities. On average, CSU's research expenditures top $138 million annually.

To this day, Colorado State University still maintains the commitment of a State agricultural college. It provides countless support for promoting economic development throughout the rural communities in Colorado. CSU has over 90,000-plus alumni that live in the State, accounting for nearly $4.1 billion annually in household income for Colorado. The CSU alumni list includes State Governors, business leaders, Olympic gold medalists, teachers, researchers, artists, and even a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

I am proud to call myself a Colorado State alumnus. It is my honor to recognize CSU on the House floor for its 141 years of excellence in education and research.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2, which would repeal the health care law.

Some ask why we simply can't just change the law that is on the books--amend it to make it a bit better. Mr. Speaker, we cannot build upon something that is fundamentally flawed. So before we move forward with a replacement, we must get rid of the law in front of us. Repeal will free businesses and individuals from costly, onerous, and unconstitutional mandates. Once we do that, we can move toward replacing it with real solutions that help Americans get affordable healthcare and help businesses avoid excessive costs and penalties associated with this law.

Mr. Speaker, I believe we can achieve these goals by doing the following things. First, we need to create a mechanism whereby small businesses and associations can pool together to get health insurance through their respective organizations. I believe that these associations and individuals should be allowed to purchase insurance plans across state lines, creating choice and competition which will ultimately drive down the cost of health insurance for everyone. Furthermore, tort reform must be addressed in a way that reduces medical malpractice lawsuits, which has had a profound effect on the ability of doctors to practice and has made the profession less appealing to individuals who truly want to serve those in need.

This healthcare bill is a recipe for further fiscal insanity. It expands already bloated entitlement programs and will add 32 million more people to these programs by 2019 at a cost of $938 billion. States in particular will be severely burdened by the new law. They will now be required to increase Medicaid eligibility to cover individuals below 138 percent of the pcverty level, which will eventually lead many already cash-strapped states down the road to bankruptcy. These expansions are simply unsustainable, especially during our current economic crisis. What we need is reform, not massive expansion of entitlement programs.

This is just one of the problems with this bill, Mr. Speaker. Not only will it expand entitlements, it will raise premiums for millions of families and it includes an unconstitutional mandate requiring individuals to purchase healthcare. At a time when families are already struggling to make ends meet, this is not the right choice for our country.

Finally, this bill was drafted behind closed doors, and without any transparency. The American people, let alone the Republicans in Congress, had little input into the final product that became law. We deserve better. The American people deserve better from their leaders, elected to represent their interests.

Mr. Speaker, I truly believe that we must work toward a system whereby Americans can get access to the doctors that best suit their needs at an affordable price. Repealing this healthcare law is the first step.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Sheriff James A. Alderden. Sheriff Alderden served as Sheriff of Larimer County in my congressional district from January, 1999, until his recent retirement on January 10, 2011.

Sheriff Alderden served the State of Colorado in various capacities prior to becoming Sheriff of Larimer County. His resume includes periods of work for the Colorado Bureau of Investigations, the Colorado State University Police Department, as well as the Steamboat Springs Police Department. His career is a shining example of dedication to the State of Colorado.

In addition to having a great sense of humor, he is a leader. He has great respect and gives his colleagues great respect. Sheriff Alderden would incorporate all employees into the decisionmaking process by giving them the respect and authority they deserve to identify problems and to correct them.

As his lasting legacy, he implemented the police department's motto of serving with the acronym PRIDE, which stands for Professionalism, Respect, Integrity, Duty, and Empowerment. Sheriff Alderden embodied these virtues throughout his career. He also personifies these virtues on a personal level.

It is my great honor to stand here on the House floor honoring Sheriff Jim Alderden and thanking him for his service.

I thank the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. Speaker, I am here to talk about jobs. I want to highlight a story about what is happening to one company in my district when it comes to this health care bill, one company in my district that employs 130 people, a manufacturing a company, one of the few left in the country. Even during the worst of the recession, this company kept every single employee employed by having them paint houses and rake leaves instead of firing them, because they felt obligated to their employees.

Without this health care bill, they predicted that their health care costs would increase by about 5 percent. With this health care bill, their cost will increase by 20 percent--an additional $200,000 a year-- to afford the cost of the health care bill. That's six people that they could have employed and hired and put to work, providing them with benefits, but instead we passed a job-destroying health care bill.

It is time for this Congress to act to fulfill the promise it made to America, the promise to repeal this bill and to put in its place solutions that will actually increase the quality of care and decrease the cost of care. The time is now. Let's act before we lose one more job.

``No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States, and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign State.''

I thank the gentleman from California.

Mr. Speaker, today I am glad to support a resolution that puts away the knives of politics and instead pulls out the shears of budget cutting. Thank you to Representative Walden for your work on the transition committee to again restore accountability and transparency by leading by example in one of the most historic institutions this world has ever witnessed.

Throughout my time in the State legislature of Colorado and throughout the past several months I have talked to constituents around the Fourth Congressional District of Colorado about the need to lead by example--the need to start in our own backyard first to cut our budgets to make sure that we are leading by example. Just a couple of rows from here in this Chamber when we took the oath, my 7-year-old daughter accompanied me to witness the transition of power. But that means nothing if we cannot lead by example. And I will have failed her as a 7-year-old child, and every child like her, if we do not lead by example--and we start today by cutting our own budgets.

The 5 percent cut to our budget is not massive, but it is monumental. And it's something that we must all take seriously, our efforts to begin leading the American people. Around this country, citizens of the United States are looking to Congress for signs of hope--signs of hope that we have learned a lesson that this Congress has spent too much, grown too much, and that we will put our own house in order.

Mr. Speaker, today I have the honor of standing in support of a resolution that says to the American people we will indeed lead by example. We will begin in our house first.