Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, you can't tell the people in Rockford, Illinois, whose unemployment is at 20 percent that all these stimulus bills are working. In fact, even before the President was sworn in, because he mentioned a carbon tax, near the city of East Dubuque over on the Mississippi River in the congressional district that I represent, Rentech, which makes anhydrous ammonia and urea, was all set to make an $800 million investment to substitute coal for natural gas in the Fischer-Tropsches process resulting in the production of aircraft fuel. So 1,000 manufacturing jobs, an $800 million investment, was wiped out because even the threat of cap-and-trade had the investors pull the plug on it.

And now we come up with still another bill, still another government program, this one to tax foreign direct investment, many of those people involved in the manufacturing sector. There are 240,000 jobs in Illinois that directly depend upon foreign direct investment.

We just passed the health care bill, the cap-and-trade. Every time we pass these bills, the people in the congressional district that I represent lose more jobs. We don't need help from Congress. We need Congress to leave the people alone.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this flawed health bill.

Mr. Speaker, the President's $1 trillion health care bill is a job-killing disaster that will slap Americans with massive tax increases and Medicare cuts immediately while delaying the bulk of the health care benefits until 2014. This is not health care reform; this is an unprecedented and unnecessary government takeover employing some of the highest and cruelest tax increases and perhaps the broadest expansion of the power of the federal government in history. It didn't have to be this way. I do support health care reform. Bipartisan alternatives exist that would make health care more affordable and accessible for the uninsured without having to wait four years for benefits.

Here are just a few of the most egregious policies within the President's massive government takeover of health care. H.R. 3590 would increase taxes on Americans by $569 billion, including a new $210 billion 2.9 percent ``Medicare'' tax on investment income; cut Medicare benefits for seniors by $530 billion; increase Americans' health insurance premiums $2,100 by 2014, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office; put another 3 to 5 million Americans on the unemployment lines due to the heavy mandates that require employers to provide health care coverage to their employees and families whether they can afford it or not; require the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hire up to 16,500 additional workers to enforce all the new tax penalties on Americans who can not afford to purchase health insurance; and puts another 16 million Americans on Medicaid, a struggling program that pays such low reimbursement rates that 121 Walgreens stores in Washington announced last week they would no longer accept Medicaid for prescriptions. This bill will burden states with additional Medicaid share costs. The State of Illinois, already facing a $12 billion budget deficit with plans to cut $1.3 billion from local school funding, would have to pay at least $1.8 billion in additional Medicaid sharing costs to cover the additional enrollments. To add insult to injury, this bill makes Americans wait until 2014 to receive the bulk of the benefits. In fact, the ban on preexisting conditions does not kick in until 2014 for adults.

This bill implements tax increases and Medicare cuts immediately, but delays most of the benefit provisions for four years. However, when you look at the first 10 years of benefits, the estimated true cost will be $2.6 trillion. And that does not even include the nearly $1 trillion of additional spending that was either pulled out of the bill to be dealt with later or the result of correcting double counting cuts in unrelated programs.

Plus, H.R. 3590 would not have a true firewall of protection to prevent federal tax dollars from paying for abortions. According to a Quinnipiac University survey released on December 22, 2009, 72 percent of Americans said they oppose allowing abortions to be paid for with public funds under any new health care system created by the government. Thus, because a ``reconciliation'' bill cannot solve this particular issue due to the fact that it is not directly a budget issue, the President has promised to issue an executive order to ban federal funding of abortion. However, an Executive Order cannot trump the language in this bill that would become law, if passed. In 1952, the Supreme Court struck down President Truman's executive order during the Korean War that assumed federal control of certain domestic steel mills due to labor unrest because it was an unconstitutional exercise of lawmaking authority reserved to Congress. In 1996, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals struck down an executive order issued by President Clinton which authorized sanctions on federal contractors that permanently replaced workers who went on strike because it superseded existing law guaranteeing the right of employers the right to hire permanent replacement workers. Finally, the Supreme Court struck down an executive order issued by President G.W. Bush because Congress, in enacting a statutory military commissions system, had impliedly prohibited the President's invocation of military commission jurisdiction over a terrorist detainee.

I also want to expand upon what I believe to be one of the cruelest elements of this bill. As if raising taxes on struggling families and their employers, cutting benefits for seniors, growing the IRS enforcement police by thousands, and further jeopardizing the budgets of all states in the union was not cruel enough, this bill creates a new 2.9 percent tax on life-saving medical devices like the titanium brace that was inserted into the spine of my wife after a cancerous tumor shattered one of her vertebrae. That medical device saved my wife from the wheelchair. The authors of this bill believe that life-saving medical devices should be nearly three percent more expensive. I fail to understand how we make health care more affordable by pursuing policies that intentionally make health care more expensive.

As the former Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, I have long supported legislation that would help small employers purchase health insurance for their employees and their families. Of the 47 million uninsured Americans, 57 percent work for small employers who cannot afford to offer them health insurance. I support two bipartisan solutions that would go a long way to reduce the number of uninsured in America. First, Congress should pass H.R. 2360, the Small Business Health Options Program Act of 2009 (SHOP Act) as a stand-alone bill. H.R. 2360 would allow small employers to purchase health insurance at reduced group rates through national associations while still following state rules. I am one of 60 bipartisan cosponsors of H.R. 2360, which also enjoys support from the liberal Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the AARP, and the conservative National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). A companion bill in the Senate was authored by my fellow Illinoisan, Senator Dick Durbin, and enjoys similar bipartisan support.

Second, Congress should also pass H.R. 1470, the Equity for Our Nation's Self-Employed Act of 2009. This bill would let small employers pay for their health insurance before they pay their Social Security and Medicare tax liabilities, giving them the same deduction as large employers. The self-employed pay on average $12,106 annually for family health care coverage, and H.R. 1470 would save them $1,852 a year, according to the Kaiser Foundation. I am one of 48 bipartisan co- sponsors of H.R. 1470.

These bills would dramatically reduce the costs of health insurance for small employers so they can better afford to provide coverage for their employees and their families. And they will reduce the rolls of the uninsured without increasing taxes, killing jobs, forcing Americans into a government-run program, and burdening our children and grandchildren with even more debt.

Mr. Speaker, I also support making the following four changes to America's health care system. First, we need to reform our out-of- control medical liability system. Medical malpractice insurance continues to surge, skyrocketing health care costs and forcing doctors and other medical professionals to practice ``defensive medicine,'' which entails ordering costly and often unnecessary tests to cover all the bases from lawsuits. I am a cosponsor of the HEALTH Act (H.R. 1086) that would fully compensate victims for medical injuries but place reasonable caps on punitive and non-economic damages that often inflate the awards and contribute to out-of-control liability and health care costs.

Second, we need to expand tax-free availability to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs allow small business owners to offer more affordable high-deductible health insurance plans to their employees and make tax-deductible contributions to employee savings accounts to allow their employees to build equity and assume personal control of their health care needs. Congress should increase the tax deductibility for these insurance plans.

Third, we need to preserve high-quality health care through America's community health centers. I am a strong supporter of continued funding of our community health center system, which provides high-quality health

care to America's low-income families. The district I am privileged to represent has one of the model community health centers in America, the Crusader Clinic in Rockford, which serves more than 40,000 needy patients in northern Illinois each year.

Finally, we need to create refundable tax credits to help low-income Americans purchase health insurance. Low-income children are already covered through the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and I support refundable tax credits to help low-income adults purchase health insurance.

Mr. Speaker, this bill today will increase taxes, cut Medicare, raise health care premiums, and put millions more Americans on the unemployment lines. And amazingly, most of the benefits--including the ban on pre-existing conditions for adults--will not be available for another four years. We should instead be pursuing the bipartisan reforms that would make health care more affordable and accessible to Americans now, and not make them wait four years for assistance. This bill is certainly not the type of health care reform Americans deserve.

Mr. Speaker, we are engaged in what is called an historic debate over the issue of health care reform, and there are a couple of issues that need to be addressed.

The area that I represent in northern Illinois, the biggest city is at 19.7 percent unemployment. Add 7 percentage points to that, it's nearly 27 percent unemployment. It's incredible.

The State of Illinois is laying off teachers, social workers, people involved in all types of social services. Students at a nearby high school went out and picketed because they're concerned over the loss of their advanced placement classes. Yet, under the Senate bill, many more across the country would be added to the Medicaid roles. The State of Illinois, already bankrupt, billions of dollars in debt, would have to take on paying an additional $400 million a year in Federal mandates and unreimbursed increased Medicaid expenses. This doesn't make sense.

On top of it, there's a 2\1/2\ percent--we think that's the amount-- excise tax on medical equipment, medical devices, the very equipment that was used to save the life of my wife who came down with cancer 4 years ago: the titanium brace that replaces one of her vertebrae, the radiation machine, all the latest equipment. A tax on the very equipment that's used to help people get excellent health care in this country? We're not quite sure which equipment would be taxed or which would be free of tax, but once the tax starts--and we all know what happens with the tax. It's passed on to the consumers.

So here's this monstrous bill from the Senate that the House is supposed to adopt by some type of unique process that's going to tax lifesaving equipment. It just defies logic as to why this is being done; $500 billion in tax increases. Now Social Security would apply to dividends, interest, capital gains taxes. Tax after tax after tax hurting the American people. I never thought that it would happen in America when lifesaving devices would be taxed to increase the cost to the people who use them.

This isn't what the American people want; it certainly isn't what they deserve. There are many ways to bring down the high cost of health care: through association health plans, through meaningful medical liability reform, through increasing the number of community health centers, by allowing small employers the ability to have the same tax breaks that corporations do when using their money to buy health insurance premiums.

America watches and looks and wonders and asks this question: Why are the leaders in Congress doing this to us?

I thank the gentleman from Missouri. If the purpose of any health care bill is to bring down the cost of health care, that is, to break the curve, so instead of health care costs going up, they'll at least be stable, if not retreat, then it really defies logic as to why the Senate bill, which the House will take up and vote on in a very interesting manner, sort of a backdoor approach to approving what happened in the Senate, when that bill imposes an excise tax on medical equipment--

Well, it is. And then when my wife came down with cancer, and the neurosurgeon implanted into her spine this marvelous titanium brace, to think that that is a medical device and could be subject to a tax. Now--

Well, yeah. I mean, the radiology machine that was used to kill the cancer cells around that particular level that was in her back that had the cancer. And, yet, by increasing the cost of lifesaving devices, has it ever occurred to people who are trying to ram through this bill that that will increase the cost of health care?

It is. And there's another aspect to tax on the medical devices. I was talking to a small businessman who runs a manufacturing facility, and he showed me the medical device that he makes. It's a marvelously crafted piece of aluminum that he did with a vertical mill, just unbelievably beautiful.

And he said, I've been told by the people who order this device from me that if we have this tax on medical devices, even though this ostensibly would apply to imports, that they're just going to take it and go to China to have this made because they can come in cheaper than anything else, and that would really be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

And so now here we are in the district I represent, with official unemployment in Rockford, Illinois, at 19.7 percent, add 7 percentage points to that, almost 27 percent unemployment, and now I'm looking a manufacturer in the eye who says, Not only will this bill impose this harsh mandate and force taxes upon me that I cannot afford, and increase the cost of health care insurance, but I could end up losing jobs because of people offshoring the manufacturing of these medical devices.

And I wanted to share that with the gentleman from Missouri because it's just----

Well, they may have to pay the tax on the import, but no one knows. If we just throw the tax out and say, well, the tax may apply, even if the tax applies, I say to my good friend from Missouri, the supplier will look at that and say, or the people who order the equipment would say, what's going to be the next shoe to drop? How much more expensive is it going to be? And I've just had it with the increasing cost of American manufacturing, so I'm going to go offshore, and then that's that.

Not 500 million jobs. Five million jobs.

And in Illinois, which is already bankrupt. Illinois is the State where five of the past eight Governors have been indicted. It's a great State. They have a lot of ethical problems, you might say. The State's broken. Public employees have been laid off. A local school, the kids were out picketing because their AP classes may be eliminated because of a tremendous hit in the budget. And now Illinois would inherit a $400 million per year unfunded Federal mandate because of the increase in Medicaid recipients.

I thank the gentleman for letting me share.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 1009. One of those individuals honored today in this resolution spent her formative years in the northern Illinois Congressional district that I am proud to represent. Miss Elizabeth C. Hanson of Rockford, Illinois deployed to Afghanistan as part of America's war against terrorist extremists. On December 30, 2009, Elizabeth, along with six colleagues from the Central Intelligence Agency and a Jordanian liaison officer, was killed when a suicide bomber attacked the base where they were stationed.

Elizabeth Hanson was born in February 1979 and graduated from Keith Country Day School in 1997. She attended Colby College during the time of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Elizabeth joined the CIA as a specialist tasked with collecting information on terrorists, and she was part of a team dedicated to defeating America's worst enemies.

Elizabeth Hanson served her country with passion, dedication, and conviction. Elizabeth will be sorely missed by her family, friends, and all who had the privilege of knowing her. I am enclosing for the Record a copy of a recent local newspaper editorial that honored her service.

[From the RRStar.com Editorial, Jan. 17, 2010]

Brave, Remarkable Woman Went From Keith to the CIA

In the weeks since CIA employee Elizabeth Hanson died in a

suicide bombing in Afghanistan, her college placement adviser

at Keith Country Day School has reflected on what the loss

meant.

Sally Hoff's words should shed new light on the heroism

that Hanson exhibited in the dark corners of Afghanistan.

Hanson, 30, was among seven CIA employees who died Dec. 30

when a double agent detonated an explosive device at a remote

base near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Hoff worked closely with Hanson for two years at Keith, a

private college preparatory school, before Hanson graduated

in 1997.

At first, the former counselor's deep sadness was paired

with shock that Hanson worked for the CIA. Then it seemed to

fit.

She recalled Hanson's courage, energy and resolve--traits

unusual for most teenagers.

``Although she was involved in many activities and had a

lot of friends, I was aware of a strong sense of independence

and self-reliance in her,'' Hoff wrote in an e-mail to the

Editorial Board.

``As we moved through the college selection process, she

was clearly the captain of her destiny; she made her own

decisions without seeking much input from family and friends.

``There's a marked amount of bravery in that for a 17-year-

old,'' Hoff wrote.

Hanson went on to attend Colby College in Maine, a highly

selective liberal arts school where she majored in economics.

She graduated in 2001. A professor at Colby told The

Associated Press that Hanson didn't study economics as a path

to a lucrative job in the financial world. Her concern wasn't

so much the raw data, Michael Donihue said, but the behaviors

behind it.

``There are some who come into economics because they're

interested in making money,'' he said. ``Others want to look

at the world in a different way.''

At Keith, Hanson was known as Bitsy. She was a vivacious,

generous, friendly young woman who seemed to enjoy

challenging herself in academics and extracurriculars,

according to Hoff.

``I feel honored to have known this remarkable young

woman!'' Hoff wrote.

This community is honored that Hanson gave her life trying

to unlock the secrets of al-Qaida and its terrorist network.

Our condolences to her family and friends. May the pride that

her hometown feels in her sacrifice be some comfort.

Madam Chair, I have great concerns about this bill, especially title IV of the so-called Consumer Financial Protection Agency. It creates yet another czar, and look at the groups that will be impacted by this bill:

Financial advisers, anybody providing financial advice, educational courses or instructional materials to customers, credit counselors, debt management services, anybody acting as a custodian of money, trust accounts, tax planning services, private pools of capital, municipalities who issue bills on utilities, water, sewer, electricity, waste collection, et cetera, courts dealing with fees, fines, taxes paid on an installment basis for counties and municipalities, schools, tuition installment, room and board, third-party agencies handling fee processing, banks, credits, unions, thrifts merchants, layaway plans, any installment plan, financing option, real estate activities, brokers, appraisers, title companies, title insurers, auctioneers, inspectors, surveyors of real estate settlement, cockroach inspectors for homes are covered under this bill.

What's financial about that unless you are counting cockroaches? Doctors, issuance of credit, rarely do people pay a bill at the ``point of sale'' in a doctor's office, lawyers, disbursing money through a trust account, the closing of a real estate transaction.

Madam Chair, this bill is so pervasive that the term ``anybody involved in a financial action'' literally covers somebody writing checks on behalf of his mother who is in a nursing home. That's why this bill is dangerous.

We can't proceed on a bill like this and have all these different groups that are impacted. Most of these groups will have no idea that they will be governed by the so-called financial czar. We don't need another czar. We need a lot more freedom in this country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the Administration's plan to link economic development in the district that I have the honor to represent to the transfer of dangerous terrorists from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The hardworking people of northern Illinois have waited too long for the promise of economic stimulus and are looking for good paying employment opportunities. It is absolutely unnecessary to condition job creation with the wholesale importation of over 200 battle-hardened terrorists that could dampen long-term economic growth in that region.

Today, I am introducing legislation to authorize the federal government to purchase the maximum security correctional facility located in Thomson, Illinois for the purpose of alleviating an already overcrowded federal penal system while prohibiting the transfer of terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. If passed, my legislation would bring good jobs to northern Illinois while keeping our communities safe. Thomson and the surrounding rural areas of Carroll County suffer from chronic high unemployment and population loss. Currently, Carroll County has an unemployment rate of 10.5 percent. Thomson has an unemployment rate of 11.8 percent and has unfortunately experienced a negative population growth rate of 4.5 percent since 2000. Fulfilling the promise of the Thomas Correctional Center will bring eagerly anticipated economic activity to the region.

For years, I have been encouraging the State of Illinois to utilize this prison after so much was invested to build the facility. Unfortunately, my requests went unheeded. Now, we have a unique opportunity to help both the federal government with its need to reduce prison overcapacity and the local community with its need for economic development.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons estimates that purchasing the facility near Thomson will cost approximately $120 million. My legislation provides sufficient flexibility in funding to purchase and transfer federal prisoners to this facility. However, the legislation specifically prohibits the federal government from housing any terrorist detainees currently at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at this site or any other federal, state, or local facility in Illinois.

Madam Speaker, the good people of Thomson and the rest of Illinois' 16th Congressional District have waited too long for this government to fulfill its promise to ``save or create'' jobs. Given the overcrowding in America's prison system, let's use the Thomson correctional facility to house non-terrorist prisoners and create the jobs so vital for our families. Now is the time to stop linking job creation to the transfer of terrorist detainees and work towards a sensible compromise on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, America's health care system is in need of reform. The families in the congressional district I represent have seen their health premiums consume more and more of their salary. Employers are faced with the difficult decision regarding whether or not they can continue to afford to offer their employees the health coverage they know they need. Many more wish they could offer their employees coverage but the orders just aren't there, not in this economy. Doctors and other health providers have seen their reimbursements decline while their practice costs have risen and their liability insurance premiums have skyrocketed due to those who abuse our lawsuit system. Some doctors have reached the conclusion that they can no longer accept Medicare or Medicaid patients.

I have spent my entire tenure in Congress working to reform our health care system to help these families, employers, and health providers. I have worked to pass association health plans so that small businesses can join together with other small businesses from across the country to grow their purchasing power on behalf their employees. I have also supported allowing Americans to obtain health insurance through other larger purchasing pools such as their church denomination, alumni association or other memberships. The Republican Congress twice passed association health plans only to come up short as a result of Democrat opposition in the Senate.

I have worked to pass health care options that meet the unique needs of families, such as medical savings accounts, health savings accounts, and flexible spending arrangements. These important initiatives allow families to save for future health needs and have been an important tool for small businesses. However, I have also had to defend these successful plans from assault by those who seek sources of revenue to fund tried-and-failed big government programs.

I have worked to pass medical liability reform to reduce the high premiums that are driving doctors and other health providers from practice. Doctors in the district I represent face medical liability premiums three to four times as high as their colleagues just north of the border in Wisconsin as a result of Wisconsin's sensible cap on the third-layer non-economic, punitive awards. The Republican Congress twice passed medical liability reform only to have the reform die in the Senate as a result of Democrat opposition.

I have worked to revise the flawed payment formula for doctors who treat Medicare patients to ensure that our seniors continue to have timely access to the most talented medical professionals in our community. I have worked to make sure that none of our health providers are targeted unfairly by government policies or agencies.

And I have spent over 75 percent of my time trying to improve the economic climate for the manufacturers and other small businesses back home so that they can not only remain competitive world-wide, but also be able to offer competitive health care benefits for their employees.

Today, I support a Republican plan that continues to pursue these important reforms. Rather than punish small businesses with onerous mandates and tax penalties for not offering health coverage, the Republican plan will provide tools for small businesses to pool together, just as larger corporations or labor unions do, to offer health care to their employees at lower prices.

The Republican plan would save $54 billion by helping to restore common sense to the legal system and curb defensive medicine by enacting medical liability reforms modeled after the successful state laws of California and Texas. This will dramatically reduce health costs for doctors and patients and will reduce the need for expensive additional tests or procedures that do nothing to improve health status but simply are ordered because of the threats of lawsuits.

The Republican plan will lower health insurance premiums for all Americans. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that premiums would be reduced by 10 percent for employees who receive their coverage through their small business employer; 8 percent for those who do not have access to employer-provided coverage; and 3 percent for employees who receive their coverage through a larger business. Families will see

their premiums $5,000 lower than the cheapest government run health insurance plan offered by the Democrats.

The Republican plan provides options for those with pre-existing conditions or those otherwise unable to afford health insurance through state high risk pool options designed to meet the unique regional needs of local citizens. The Republican plan provides options for young adults to remain on their parents' health plans.

The Republican plan promotes innovation in the areas of coverage, technology, and wellness, and prevents government bureaucrats from coming between a doctor and patient. It preserves existing law preventing federal funding from paying for elective abortions. It doesn't raise taxes; it doesn't cut Medicare benefits; it doesn't force anyone into a new government-run health program; and rather than increasing the debt burden on our children and grandchildren, the CBO estimates that the Republican plan will save $68 billion over the next ten years.

Unfortunately, the bill offered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) takes a very different approach. The Pelosi bill is a $1.3 trillion dollar federal government takeover of the entire health care sector. It increases taxes by $766 billion, taken from badly needed capital for operations and loans for small businesses and is estimated to kill 5.5 million jobs. It penalizes employers for not offering and employees for not purchasing the health coverage that a new all-powerful Health Choices Commissioner deems acceptable. It increases the cost of health care for patients and other health consumers through a new 2.5 percent tax on medical equipment, such as wheel chairs. The Pelosi plan cuts $500 billion from Medicare, which will hurt 18,425 seniors from the Congressional district I represent. District hospitals will see their Medicare payments cut by $244.7 million and local skilled nursing facilities will lose $113.4 million.

Despite claiming the goal of decreasing health costs, the Democrat bill creates 111 new bureaucracies, commissions, agencies, or offices, necessitating the hiring of thousands of new bureaucrats. These new czars and commissars will micromanage all aspects of Americans' health, including the following from page 1514: ``The Secretary shall establish by regulation standards for determining and disclosing the nutrient content for standard menu items that come in different flavors, varieties, or combinations, but which are listed as a single menu item, such as soft drinks, ice cream, pizza, doughnuts, or children's combination meals, through means determined by the Secretary, including ranges, averages, or other methods.''

This Pelosi bill irresponsibly shifts significant costs to the states by hiking their Medicaid expenses. Most states already face significant existing Medicaid shortfalls as demonstrated by the Medicaid bailout for states contained in the Democrat stimulus bill.

The creation of a new government health insurance exchange through which all insurance must be approved and through which all individual insurance must be sold will jeopardize the insurance choices currently enjoyed by over 85 percent of Americans. The creation of a government run health insurance plan coupled with a heavy-fisted regulatory scheme tipped significantly in its favor will further erode the Americans choice of coverage and eventually result in most Americans being forced into a full-blown government run insurance scheme. Further troubling is the inclusion of comparative effectiveness research panels that are utilized in European single-payer systems to ration health care based on cost factors.

And despite the CBO's estimate on the significant savings that could be achieved, the Democrat bill not only contains no medical liability reform, but it actually incentivizes states to repeal their existing medical liability laws in exchange for money.

In sum, the Pelosi bill will kill jobs, cut Medicare, pile debt on our children, increase health care costs, ration care, and raise taxes. As a result of these and hundreds of other disturbing provisions, I cannot in good conscience vote for the Pelosi government takeover of health care.

Mr. Speaker, today, we are considering a lot of bills, good bills, to help out small business people. But I find it ironic that at the same time we pass more programs and try to fund what is out there, the same Congress continues to pass, one after the other, job- killing bills. We can start with cap-and-trade that will kill millions and millions of jobs across this country.

The largest city in the congressional district I represent, Rockford, Illinois, is close to 17 percent unemployment. One out of four families in Rockford is on public assistance. No news has hit that city in a long time, but the news from Washington is we want to raise your taxes, give you more regulations, and here we are on the eve of passing one of the biggest small business job-killing bills, this massive so-called health care reform bill that will put between 4 and 5 million people out of work, small businesses.

There is something wrong in this city that says it wants to help the small business people and turns right around, and the very people that the majority in this Congress say that they want to help, they are hurting, making them bleed with regulation after regulation, tax increase after tax increase, mandate after mandate, penalty after penalty.

I was raised in small business. When I was 4, my father bought a small grocery store in the rough-and-tough part of Rockford, Illinois; and he personally grubstaked. That is, he gave credit to thousands of people coming in from the displaced persons camps of Eastern Europe and people coming from Arkansas with the massive crop failures. All we know is small business.

He went from the grocery store business into the drive-in restaurant business and the family Italian restaurant business. After awhile, my brother, who ran the restaurant business for 41 years, said, Donnie, all I do is work for the government and for higher insurance premiums.

He and the people and the rest of the Frankie Manzullos out there shouldn't have to go to another government agency and beg for help. This city should be recognizing the fact that the best way to help the small business people is not to suck $544 billion in taxes from people working in small businesses. Because, Mr. Speaker, what we are doing here is, by raising taxes on these small business people, this money is going to the government which squanders it, as opposed to the money staying in the private sector, which is used to keep the businesses going, to nurture them, and create more businesses.

The city has it all wrong. No wonder the people of America are upset. No wonder there is a revolution going on, with the small businessmen saying, We can't take it anymore. We don't want any more help from Washington. Just leave us alone.

Mr. Speaker, there is no irony here. When the Republicans controlled this body, on two different occasions we passed association health plans only to have them fail in the Senate because there weren't 60 votes.

And I believe on three different occasions when the Republicans controlled the House of Representatives, we passed meaningful medical liability reform. That wasn't even taken up in the Senate. It wasn't taken up in the Senate, even though the Republicans controlled the Senate because you needed 60 votes to get it through.

And we had to fight tooth and nail to eliminate the horrible death tax that destroyed small businesses. In fact, some of the statistics show that three out of four small businesses could not go down beyond three generations because of the confiscatory death tax. And farmers were losing their farms. I know. I practiced law in the country for 22 years, and I was there when one of the family farms had to be sold to pay for death tax.

We got those changes through. It was difficult, but we got those changes through.

And of course we know what is going to happen now. Neither the White House nor the Democratic leadership is interested in making sure that the death tax stays repealed in this country.

These are all job killers for small business people.

It doesn't make sense for us to continue to pass bill after bill after bill after bill to laud the efforts of the small business people of this country, to say that without the small businesses--the ones who produce more than 57 percent of all the employees in this country--why is it that they will be the beneficiaries of the lack of capital that is sucked up on $454 billion worth of new taxes--yes, on those, the third wealthiest, if you want to call it that, that make more than $250,000 a year?

But instead of paying money in taxes, they would be putting that money back into keeping their businesses going and helping their employees keep their jobs.

I have visited hundreds, hundreds of factories across the district that I represent, several parts of Illinois, talking to the people who own these factories, trying to find out what is it that they need so they can continue to be more productive. And what I hear from them is the fact that they want to be left alone by Washington. They look at what this cap-and-trade will do to them--and this is a valid debate, we're talking about helping small business people--but they look at what cap-and-trade will do to the factories, to the productivity, to push more jobs offshore.

In fact, we got a call from a national company that has employees all over the country that has a call center, a series of call centers. To keep the jobs in this country, they decided to close the physical facilities and to allow the people to work from home part-time to make those phone calls, to keep the call centers here in America as opposed to being exported overseas. The people from one of these call centers says, If this health bill passes mandating health insurance for part- time employees, it's easy for them, they will close their facilities, and 50,000 more jobs will be exported overseas.

This doesn't help the small businesses of this country. What we need is to start retracting these regulations. What we need to do is to start reducing the taxes. What we need to do is to make it easier for people to have the capital.

Mr. Speaker, we've been advised that the House of Representatives may have only 3 hours of debate on this 1,990-page bill plus, perhaps, another 1,000-page manager's amendment. That comes out to $500 billion an hour which will be spent of the public funds.

We should be debating this bill for weeks and months so that the American people know exactly what's in it and so that Members of Congress can be very exact in explaining it to our constituents and so that we can learn how deep and broad this bill is. In fact, there is even a provision which provides for reimbursement to veterinarians. Perhaps it's a mistake in the bill, but that's why we have to read it thoroughly.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of the jewels of northern Illinois, Crusader Community Health of Rockford. Crusader Community Health is a remarkable community-based, not-for- profit health center whose mission is to provide quality, primary health care to people in need in the Rock River Valley. Crusader Community Health systems is part of a network of more than 1,200 federally qualified health centers in the United States serving 18 million people. These centers are doing tremendous work providing care to the medically disenfranchised in this nation. Crusader is the backbone of our regional community's health care safety net, delivering high quality primary and preventive care for over 40,000 patients each year regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.

This year, Crusader Community Health is celebrating its 37th anniversary as one of the top community health centers in the nation. Crusader has been lauded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and will soon be featured on the National Medical Report program of National Public Broadcasting for its positive impact on the local community. Nationally, the community health centers program has been recognized by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as one of the most highly effective federal programs in existence.

Madam Speaker, I wish to extend my recognition and strong support of Crusader Community Health systems in Rockford, Illinois. Since its founding in 1972, Crusader Community Health has served my fellow citizens in northern Illinois with access to affordable and high quality medical and dental care. I am proud to support Crusader Community Health because I know many of my fellow citizens would be without health care if it were not for the dedication and professional excellence of the staff, board of directors and volunteers associated with this terrific local organization. Crusader is a great example of the effectiveness of the community health center program in this nation. This system of care saves lives and deserves continued public support. I am honored to recognize Crusader Community Health and its personnel here in the United States Congress today.

Madam Speaker, it is my distinct honor to take this opportunity to recognize a heroic resident of the 16th District of Illinois, Matthew Polnow of Rockford. Mr. Polnow works for the U.S. Postal Service and is a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

On June 11, 2008, as he was delivering mail on his postal route, Carrier Polnow witnessed a crushing three-vehicle accident. In a matter of seconds, he ran to the first car, checking to make sure that the occupants were not injured. Then he went on to the second vehicle, a truck, where fortunately no one

needed assistance. Carrier Polnow continued to the third vehicle, a van used to transport handicapped and wheelchair-bound individuals, which was beginning to burn. The driver's airbag had deployed, and the driver alerted Carrier Polnow to a handicapped passenger still inside the smoke-filled van.

With smoke continuing to circulate and flames erupting from the engine, Carrier Polnow went to work. He managed to free the side door that had been jammed by a ramp. Maneuvering the ramp into place, he unhooked the restraining belts and dragged the wheelchair--and the now terrified woman passenger--from the vehicle. Once free from the smoke, Carrier Polnow located the controls on the chair and engaged them to move the woman to safety.

Acts of bravery and fortitude such as this should not go unnoticed. Carrier Polnow's heroism has led him to be recognized by the National Association of Letter Carriers with the National Central Hero Award. I am privileged and humbled to represent great constituents like Carrier Polnow, and I wanted to take this brief opportunity today, Madam Speaker, to let my colleagues know of his great act of courage.

Madam Speaker, it is my distinct honor to take this opportunity to recognize a heroic resident of the 16th District of Illinois, Matthew Polnow of Rockford. Mr. Polnow works for the U.S. Postal Service and is a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

On June 11, 2008, as he was delivering mail on his postal route, Carrier Polnow witnessed a crushing three-vehicle accident. In a matter of seconds, he ran to the first car, checking to make sure that the occupants were not injured. Then he went on to the second vehicle, a truck, where fortunately no one needed assistance. Carrier Polnow continued to the third vehicle, a van used to transport handicapped and wheelchair-bound individuals, which was beginning to burn. The driver's airbag had deployed, and the driver alerted Carrier Polnow to a handicapped passenger still inside the smoke-filled van.

With smoke continuing to circulate and flames erupting from the engine, Carrier Polnow went to work. He managed to free the

side door that had been jammed by a ramp. Maneuvering the ramp into place, he unhooked the restraining belts and dragged the wheelchair-- and the now terrified woman passenger--from the vehicle. Once free from the smoke, Carrier Polnow located the controls on the chair and engaged them to move the woman to safety.

Acts of bravery and fortitude such as this should not go unnoticed. Carrier Polnow's heroism has led him to be recognized by the National Association of Letter Carriers with the National Central Hero Award. I am privileged and humbled to represent great constituents like Carrier Polnow, and I wanted to take this brief opportunity today, Madam Speaker, to let my colleagues know of his great act of courage.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding the two earmarks I secured as part of H.R. 3326, Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010

My first request, totaling $4 million, will come from the Air Force Research and Development Appropriations account (RDT&E) under Budget Line Title ``Aerospace Propulsion'' for the Thermal and Energy Management for Aerospace (THEMA) II program. This program will enable improved performance and range for the next air vehicles while making key steps towards national environmental and domestic energy goals. The initiative is comprised of discrete technology, system optimization and integration elements that provide the enabling foundation for future air vehicles and capabilities. The basic and applied research to be performed under the THEMA II initiative is necessary to ensure that the technologies needed for high power, high performance, cost effective, energy efficient secondary power thermal and energy management systems are ready and available as these future vehicles and vehicle capabilities are developed and matured. Previously, THEMA received $3.5 million in FY 2008. The entity to receive funding for the THEMA II program is the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Power Division at Wright-Paterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, for a ``plus-up'' of an already existing contract competitively won by Hamilton-Sundstrand, a division of United Technologies Company, located at 4747 Harrison Avenue in Rockford, Illinois, 61125.

My second request, totaling $2 million, will come from the Army RDT&E Appropriation Account under the Budget Line Title ``Combat Vehicle & Automotive Advanced Technology'' for the Fuel System Component Technology Research program at Northern Illinois University (NIU). NIU, under the current Rapid Optimization of Commercial Knowledge (ROCK) program, has worked with a number of small companies in the Rockford, Illinois area to develop new products for improved processing of precision small parts as well as parts fabricated out of titanium. The Fuel System Component Manufacturing Technology Improvement program will have NIU work with small manufacturers in Rockford to develop improved manufacturing processes for fuel handling and similar components to enable more affordable, longer lasting lighter weight components for new and retrofit applications. The program will enable the cost- effective production of precision fuel-fluidic system components in small quantities such as are needed for replacement parts or typical military small order quantities. These manufacturing technologies will also enable higher fuel efficiency engines in vehicles ranging from trucks and cars to railroad locomotives all the way to aircraft turbines. The entity to receive funding for the Fuel System Component Manufacturing Technology Improvement program is Northern Illinois University located at 1120 East Diehl Road in Naperville, Illinois 60563.

Madam Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to thank the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative David Obey, and the Ranking Minority Member, Representative Jerry Lewis, and the Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Representative John Murtha, and the Ranking Minority Member, Representative C.W. Bill Young, for working with me in a bipartisan manner to include these two critical requests in this spending bill.