Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I stand here today as a proud member of the Budget Committee supporting our Path to Prosperity budget that was introduced on time and takes real steps to get the country's finances back on track focusing on real economic growth and job creation.

Lately we have heard a lot of demagogy and scare tactics about this budget. First it came from the other side of the aisle, and yesterday we heard those same remarks by the President.

But my constituents don't want to hear the same old partisan attacks and rhetoric. They want Washington to tell them the truth. The truth is this about our budget:

Number one, it's a jobs budget, and in the first year this budget creates 1 million new jobs.

Number 2, it cuts $6.2 trillion in government spending.

Number 3, it eliminates duplicative government programs.

Number 4, it preserves Medicare for the next generation.

Number 5, it puts caps on spending for the coming year and the next decade.

And, number 6, it takes us on a path to pay down our debt.

House Republicans are working to get this country back on track on a sound financial footing, and I am proud to be here today as part of the Republican majority that will lead where the President has failed and restore America's future growth and prosperity.

Mr. Speaker, on a daily basis I listen to the people of my district, and they tell me they don't want games and they don't want the buck passed. They're sick of the status quo here in Washington. And my constituents are sick of the big spending, the big government, and the political games. They're sick of Washington doing what's easy.

Well, we're here today because last year it was easier for the Democrats in Congress to not do their job and not pass a budget. Isn't that a shame? And we're here because Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats want to play political games and defend big spending.

Yesterday, we passed a bill to protect our troops in the event that Harry Reid shuts down the government, and the President then said that he would veto this bill. Harry Reid and the President are playing games with our troops as well.

Now the House is leading, and we passed four bills to keep the government open and cut spending. And we are going to be here until we get our fiscal house in order.

I stand here today, 9 days after I first joined my colleagues outside of the Capitol demanding that Harry Reid act like a leader, and I said it then and I will say it now: Harry Reid, get your act together. Let's put this country on the right track and move forward.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here tonight as a daughter, a wife, and a mother of veterans; and I am an ardent supporter of our Nation's military. These brave men and women can never be thanked enough for their service to our country, and this Congress must do everything that we can to stand up for those who defend America. That is why I urge my colleagues to protect the military paychecks and to ensure that if the government shutdown were to occur, that the members of our Armed Forces and their families will receive their salaries on time.

This is not an issue that we can play politics with, and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who seek to use these paychecks of our military as part of their plan to force a government shutdown should absolutely be ashamed of themselves. Military families have already sacrificed so much for this country. Back in Tennessee, there are families who are worried right now about whether their loved ones are safe overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places even around the country, and they are praying for their safe return home. Those military families should not, under any circumstances, have to worry about when and where the next paycheck is coming from.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 225 for final passage of H.R. 1246, I am not recorded. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today enthusiastically supporting H.R. 4, the 1099 repeal bill. This piece of legislation is a victory for common sense. It is proof that the House is dedicated to getting the government off of the backs of American small businesses and working for the people again.

This bill does three things: it reduces the deficit; it protects our taxpayers from waste; and it eases the burdens on small businesses who too often have to deal with government breathing down their necks and stifling their growth. If this provision were left untouched in the President's health care law, small businesses across the country would be buried in paperwork. Instead of growing their businesses, advertising their services and selling their products and hiring workers and growing our economy, business owners would be stuck behind a desk filling out IRS forms.

Just this morning in the Wall Street Journal, it was reported by a survey that the small business owners are finding it more and more difficult to file their tax forms because of the onerous paperwork. It is unconscionable that the Democrat Congress paid for their massive spending on their health care bill on the backs of American small businesses; but today we're going to fix that.

As a member of Ways and Means, I am extremely proud to have seen this repeal bill take shape in our committee. I am proud that we pay for this bill by protecting taxpayers instead of demanding more money of them. By reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the Democrats' health care law, we pay for this 1099 repeal, which reduces the deficit by $166 million in the first 10 years, and by billions of dollars over the long run, while reducing the Federal spending by nearly $200 billion over 10 years.

This is a huge victory, but it marks the beginning of a new way that we are doing business here in Washington. This new House majority will continue to enact commonsense policy that does not add to the debt or hide their true costs with accounting gimmicks.

We can get government working for the American people today, and this is a good start.

Thank you. I am so honored to unveil this new initiative from our Republican Study Committee.

This right here is the Golden Turkey Award. Each month, the RSC will be bestowing this dubious award to highlight the most absurd, the most ridiculous and obscure regulation that taxpayers foot the bill to enforce and have to live by. This month's Golden Turkey Award goes to a regulation that I have been talking about in my district and here also in Congress for the past month. The March 2011 Golden Turkey Award goes to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA. The EPA recently discovered that milk contains fat. Can you believe that? It's also considered an oil. So what did the EPA do? It decided to regulate milk spills.

Well, the EPA is currently developing a rule that will subject dairy farmers to the Spill Prevention, Control, and Countermeasure Program-- that's sort of a long name--which was created for oil contamination in waterways, and now they're applying it to dairy farmers. So, when Nellie kicks over the bucket, our farmers will have to build berms around the area where they milk. They will have to have an emergency responder's plan so, in case milk is spilled, all of their employees will be trained in the containment of this spilled milk.

That's an excellent question because, when I talked to the dairy farmers back in my district and when I told them about this great idea the EPA has for them, one of my farmers told me he already has this plan in

place. When asked, he said he has a barn with about 15 stray cats, and he's going to open the doors and yell, ``Here, kitty, kitty,'' and that will take care of the emergency spill.

It's good that you asked, because the rule requires that these emergency protocols be in place by November 10 of this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already initiated a $3 million pilot program through the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help the farmers and the ranchers comply with the on-farm oil spill regulation. So already we see $3 million that's going to be wasted in just getting the farmers up to speed on how they have to do these plans.

When I was in my district last week and spoke to people about this, they were absolutely speechless. It has been told to me by many of the businesses in my district that what they really want is just for the government to get out of their way, to let them do their jobs, to stop overtaxing them, and to stop overregulating them so that they can actually grow their businesses. They have the capital to do so, and if we would just leave them alone, they could grow their businesses.

So that's why the inaugural Golden Turkey Award is being presented to the EPA and to its proposed overregulation of dairy farmers with spilled milk. I am going to work as hard as I possibly can to make sure that this does not get initiated and that our farmers will be freed from this onerous regulation.

That's right. The EPA has won.

You're so right, and it's proudly displayed on my desk. It is a trophy that stands about 12-inches high, and it is golden and has a golden turkey on the top of it. I'm challenging all of my colleagues to find places that we're having overregulation, killing our businesses, stifling the growth of our economy, and stifling job growth.

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a registered nurse who worked in emergency rooms and caring for patients. I also rise as a former member of the Tennessee General Assembly who saw firsthand the devastating effects of TennCare on our State and was a part of the group, of the effort, to dismantle it.

Finally, I rise today as a representative of the Sixth District of Tennessee, where my constituents have told me over and over how they do not want ObamaCare bankrupting our Nation and getting between them and the doctor.

Mr. Speaker, I know that the health care industry, and I know that the new health care law, is not the solution to our problem. Pretty soon, the health care law will be the problem. I know this because for many of us in Tennessee, the President's new health care law is like a bad dream all over again.

And let me tell you what I mean. Tennessee was the pilot project for universal health care and the experiment was called TennCare. Put simply, the experiment failed.

After TennCare passed, we watched the cost grow exponentially, and those of us in the legislature knew that if we did not do something, TennCare was going to bankrupt our State and, much like ObamaCare, the sheer size of TennCare was more than government could handle. The government could not perform all of the functions of the medical insurance industry. Promises of care and access were made, and promises were far beyond what our State could possibly do.

It didn't take long before TennCare became riddled with waste and fraud and abuse. I can remember talking with people who had gone from doctor to doctor and specialist to specialist using TennCare to fill more than 50 prescriptions. Yes, 50 prescriptions is what they would put in front of me and tell me that TennCare was paying for, and it was all on the taxpayer's dime.

TennCare became the monster that even the creators could not control. Today, TennCare is gutted, only available to a small group of people, and Tennessee has been brought back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Last month, Republican Governors wrote to ask the administration to ``waive the bill's costly mandates and grant States the authority to choose benefit rules that meet the specific needs of their citizens.'' The Governors were asking for commonsense solutions like waiving provisions that punished consumer-driven plans like the most popular plan and the cost-effective plan of health care savings accounts. Give the States the ability to do what States can do best, and that is to determine what's best for them.

But the President shows no sign of granting States some flexibility in how they will apply ObamaCare. And only yesterday, President Obama said he is supporting letting the States propose their own health care plans by 2014. However, that would be only if he will not change the mandates for the States in the current law.

So in one side of his speech he says, yes, he will allow some flexibility. On the other side he says, there still must be certain mandates.

Dr. Gingrey, as you said, States will still be forced to comply with benefit levels and mandates that are set by Federal bureaucrats, not by the States themselves. That certainly doesn't give States rights.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has already said that if the State were to propose its own plan that they will be forced to provide comprehensive, comprehensive coverage, and that coverage will be defined by government. So much for being able to keep your plan or for the States to make a determination on what plan best suits them.

Now President Obama wants every State to live through its own version of TennCare. With ballooning budgets for each State and no way to curb their health care costs that will cripple the States during a time of already strapped budgets, it's simply unacceptable.

We averted this disaster in Tennessee by dissolving TennCare and now, as a Member of Congress, I will work to stop this financial and fiscal disaster that ObamaCare will bring to our Nation. This health care law must be replaced, and I believe this House can do it.

Mr. Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, receives millions of dollars in government aid, yet they are still classified as a nonprofit organization.

From 2008 to 2009, Planned Parenthood received $363 million, which is one-third of their $1 billion income, from grants and contracts from Federal and State governments. And during that time, the number of abortions that they performed increased to a record number of 324,000. That's almost 25,000 from 2006 to 2007. And each fiscal year since 2000, the government has increased its funding an average of $22 million per year while the number of abortions they perform steadily increased. This occurred while the overall abortion rate in the United States declined.

And despite all of this, we continue to give this organization money--millions--despite reports that Planned Parenthood clinics have failed to comply with State statutory rape reporting laws, often ignoring parental consent laws. And, most recently, a few have refused to report instances of sex trafficking of minors.

Simple fact: Funding Planned Parenthood and its affiliates does not decrease abortions. It increases it.

When I think of Planned Parenthood, I am immediately reminded of a night 20 years ago when I was working in the emergency room at Hendersonville Hospital.

A 22-year-old girl presented after receiving an incomplete abortion from the Planned Parenthood clinic. She had no followup number, and she didn't know where to go to receive the care that she needed. Unfortunately, she waited at home, bleeding for hours before coming to the emergency room. But it was too late. And due to the excessive bleeding loss, her body responded by an uncontrollable clotting condition known as DIC, and at this point there was nothing we could do. We watched this young girl die. This young girl, with her whole life ahead of her, died that night.

Stories like these are the everyday tragedies that go untold. That is why I stand here this hour to show my support for this amendment and for all of the continuing efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. I thank the gentleman from Indiana for introducing this vital amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentleman from California for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the great legacy of our 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan. As I watched some of the coverage of the President's centennial, I found myself filled with the same hope and idealism that he inspired in me over 20 years ago.

During the 8 years he was in the White House, President Reagan faced great challenges but was always optimistic that the greatness of our country and its people would bring us to a brighter day. A truly one- of-a-kind leader, President Reagan inspired freedom throughout the world and kept the American dream alive and burning brightly for all of us.

He reminded us that democracy is a precious gift, but one that is dependent on the dedication of all Americans. He believed strongly in American exceptionalism and reminded us that as citizens of such a great Nation, we had a responsibility to be a beacon of hope to all of those around the world who do not enjoy the same freedoms. All of these years later, his ideals still stand true for all of us, and his message is just as urgent today as it was in the past, perhaps even more so.

President Reagan is a personal hero of mine, and I want to work with my colleagues to keep his ideals of a smaller government, a commonsense government, alive here in Washington.

President Reagan believed that the people of this country are the best hope for the future, not the government or its bureaucrats. He believed that the ideal of self-government that this Nation was founded on was one of the greatest ideas of history, and that by giving government back to the people, our Nation would become stronger and more prosperous.

Like Reagan, I too am optimistic. I believe that our best days are still

ahead of us and that a smaller government that answers to the people will let America thrive again. As we face the challenges ahead of us today, let us remember President Reagan, and with hard work we can get this country back on track to a brighter morning.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 22, I was detained in committee. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise on behalf of the people of middle Tennessee who spoke loud and clear this last year that they do not want the Federal Government dictating their health care. The plan that was signed into law by the President was supposed to increase access to health care and lower costs for American families. However, in the months since the bill passed, it has been shown to do neither. We now know that the health care bill not only increases premiums for families but hinders job creation and is filled with unintended consequences that not only diminish the quality of our health care system but also do great damage to our economy, and increase our deficit.

This new Congress was sent here to follow a more responsible path. Through commonsense, market-based solutions, we can replace a flawed health care bill to have the best health care system in the world.

I am eager to take part in drafting the new Republican plan and focusing on rolling back the individual mandate, eliminating the onerous demands on small businesses, and actually lowering the cost for families and increasing access to quality, personalized health care.

I also look forward to a thoughtful discussion that includes solutions that went ignored before, like tort reform, increasing competition, and tax breaks instead of tax hikes.

As a nurse for over 40 years, my top priority will be making sure our plan honors the doctor-patient relationship that is so sacred in medicine because there is no place for a government bureaucrat in an individual's health care decision.

As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I am excited to work with Chairman Dave Camp and my fellow committee members on a new way forward to responsible health care reform. Let's do the work that the American people sent us here to do.

Madam. Speaker, on rollcall No. 9 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

``The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.''