Floor Statements

They are fighting for us; now we have to fight for them. Every day, thousands of brave Americans are asked to leave the comfort and safety of their homes and families to fight for our freedom abroad. Oftentimes, those soldiers leave behind families who are surviving on credit cards to put food on the table or to clothe their kids as they send them off to school.

Some of those brave soldiers are deployed to the Middle East and then they are deployed to a forward-operating base. As a C-130 pilot, I delivered mail to those austere and sometimes remote locations. No, our soldiers in the battle every day don't have time to affix a stamp and send off a bill or a statement, their credit card bills, back to America. But while those soldiers are dodging bullets and IEDs and RPGs, they shouldn't be concerned about whether they sent their Visa bill on time. Frankly, they are under enough pressure. I know the stresses of a battlefield, and our soldiers shouldn't have to fight the credit card companies when they return because they were defending our country when their bill was due.

So I ask you, we've heard a lot about how this bill and amendments could create unintended consequences. Are we going to allow our soldiers and our brave men and women serving in our Nation's uniform to be victims of unintended consequences because they are overseas fighting?

The industry should be proud to stand by the soldiers and veterans who defend their ability to operate in a safe and secure environment led by a freely elected government. The industry should be willing to take the extra step, go the extra mile to show leniency to the military members who put their lives on the line.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

``Johnny, what have you done?'' I remember my mom asking me that as a young boy, ``What have you done?'' Well, she asked me this weekend, ``Johnny, what have you done to help middle class families? What are you doing in Congress to put the middle class first for a change?'' And I said, Mom, some great things are happening in Washington, D.C. Can you imagine this? The Democratic Party is about to enact the largest tax reduction in our country's history for middle class families. Imagine that. Can you imagine that Democrats are going to cut the budget in half, by two-thirds by 2013? And can you believe that we are finally going to have an honest accounting for all the mess that we have inherited over the last decade, the mess that includes bailing out banks, bailing out Freddie and Fannie, and also dishonest war funding, money that should be included in the budget but yet we were not strong enough to put that in the President's budget? Can you believe that the Bush tax reduction was for the wealthiest Americans, and that our tax reduction is going to be for middle class families?

Madam Speaker, this House is in order. And we are investing in America. We are investing in our country and in our jobs. Do you remember in 2004, when President Bush's Secretary

of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, flew to Iraq with one of many billion dollar checks in hand to make sure that every man, woman, and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage? And all we hear now from our opponents on the other side is that Americans don't deserve health care.

But all we hear from those detractors is that Americans are not worthy of having health care that works for every family and for every child.

I say enough is enough. We need to invest in our country, in our people, in our future. And that is exactly what this budget does; it invests in education, in green energy jobs, and cuts the budget deficit.

Are we going to be leaders or are we going to be blockers? Are we going to say ``yes,'' or are we going to say ``no?'' Are we going to invest in American families or Iraqis?

Mr. Speaker, it has often been said that leadership is about action, not position. Leadership is about action, not position, and the people from the 16th District of Ohio entrusted me to come to Congress to act, to restore and rebuild our economy, to help create jobs, to transition to a clean energy economy, and to make health care more affordable for all our citizens, and they asked us also to improve education so that every child in America has an opportunity to succeed.

Over this last district work period I had the opportunity to visit some very unique people in my district, for them to hear from their Congress on their corners, and also listen to our leaders back at home who are trying to put our economy back on track. And you know those smokestacks that often sent smoky signals of prosperity and success back home? They are becoming few and far between in the Midwest.

Just last week, Alliance Castings in my hometown announced that 400 jobs would be lost because of the downturn in our economy, and we will lose countless other jobs across our district because of some of the policy decisions

we are making right here in Washington, D.C.

I stand here before you today in the House of Representatives suggesting that some of the economic indicators in Ohio are outpacing the national average. In Ohio, we have an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, but yet in the counties that comprise the 16th Congressional District, Stark County outpaces by that nearly 1 percent more, at 10.7 percent, outpacing the national average. In Ashland County we are at nearly 13 percent unemployment, and in Wayne County we are almost at 10 percent unemployment.

The people of Northeast Ohio are demanding success stories, and Washington, D.C., has a part in playing a substantial role.

We visited the Heinz plant in Stark County. We also had the opportunity to visit another name brand factory in our district, the Smucker factory. The success stories that are there are clearly evidence that the entrepreneurial spirit of America is alive and strong.

What I heard as the common theme from these great individuals and great Americans was that America will recover and we will rebound, but we have to believe in our leadership, we have to believe in our process of dialogue, and respect that we have in the dialogue, that we have in debate, which will restore our economy, and they expect us to demand public policy that will make America stronger.

I was visiting the Defense Metals Technology Center and also meeting with the Blue Green Alliance on energy back home, and they suggested that we have the right tools with the right leadership in Washington to recover and restore jobs back in Ohio, and I talk to you with the respect and dignity that we should have in this chamber here.

We may differ on ideas. We may differ on opinions about how to move our States and our economy and our country foward. But at the end of the day we all want to see prosperity for our Nation. We all want to see Americans get back to work. And those Americans, like the ones at Alliance Castings that punched the time clock every day, played by the rules, brought a lunch pail to work and believed they were contributing to the future success of their family and their loved ones, are now going to be left on the streets with an unemployment check and a pink slip.

We have got to do our part here. We need a manufacturing policy in America, one that helps us embolden those small employers back home like the Heinz factory and Smuckers, two of the big names that we all recognize, but many more, like Sarah Plastics.

I visited with a CEO and a gentleman that has countless numbers of ideas, but he doesn't have the resources to bring his products to market. We have got to help him, and that is what this Congress is aiming to do with helping small businesses. A tax reduction for 95 percent of the Americans in this country. That is significant. The largest tax reduction with the economic stimulus package, the largest tax reduction in our Nation's history, for every American in this country and small businesses who help rebuild our economy day-to-day.

I also heard from Project Rebuild, folks who are giving opportunities and second chances to Americans, those students back home that maybe dropped out of school and are now finding success stories working to build a skill and trade that they can take back and use in this great and diverse economy to help build America and make America stronger.

I heard from Walsh University students, giving their speech for one of their business luncheons, the fact that we have young entrepreneurs in that audience who are looking to make America stronger by bringing their innovative ideas and working with the local businesses. I believe that is going to be the key to success in our education stories back home, is that we marry up our local economies to the industry and talent that we have at our local universities.

Leadership is about action, and that is what they expect in this Congress, that we will act on the ideas of public policy to make our country stronger.

My friends here and colleagues here today, there's a rap song that goes ``Don't Believe the Hype.''

Let me give you the rap sheet on the hype of the proposal that we're about to discuss here today. It's about giving to the wealthiest among us, giving back to the corporate influences that have led us to the job loss that we have found, to the market principles that have led us to near and utter collapse of our housing industry, and cuts in vital programs that invest in our country, our people, and in America.

Now, I know there are some on the other side who believe the principles of Rush Limbaugh, that they want to see our President fail. And by asking our President to fail, they are asking America to fail. And this budget right here that we are talking about, that President Obama has introduced, invests in our people, invests in our programs, and invests in our country.

You know, in 2004, our Secretary of Health and Human Services, under the Bush administration, Tommy Thompson, flew to Iraq to make sure that every man, woman and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage. Billions of dollars were spent. Yet, my colleagues on the other side didn't bat an eye when those proposals were before us; didn't bat an eye to invest in other countries. But now we have an opportunity to invest in America. A $1.5 trillion tax cut to middle-class families. We're going to cut the deficit in half by 2013.

And finally, finally, my colleagues, we're going to have honest budgeting accounting principles for America and our people.

The question before us today is, will we act or will we stall? Will we invest, or will we continue to divest in America? Will we believe in our country, and will we believe in our people? That's what this budget debate is about. That's what these investments are about, and that's why it's so important that we reject this notion and embrace our ideas of success.

Madam Speaker, to my colleagues here on the floor, give me a break. That's exactly what the American taxpayer has asked for, and that's what this Congress has delivered.

Over the last 3 months that I have been here in the Congress, here in the United States Capitol, we have made permanent the $800 Making Work Pay tax cut for American middle-class families. We've expanded the child tax credit. We've made the investment into alternative energy, the tax cuts that are going to help grow green energy jobs here in the United States and in my district in Ohio. We've made those part of our package that we've rolled out.

This stimulus package and economic recovery bill that was passed by this Congress provides the largest tax cut for American middle-class families and for small businesses in this country. This was the right step. We can already begin to see the signs of economic recovery on the horizon.

We've got a long way to go, but the package we introduced and passed in this Congress is going to be the right track, and we need to put our country back on track. That's what the American taxpayers have asked for, and that's what we're giving them, a break.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are demanding leadership, and we will be judged in this House by two measures, by action or inaction, and whether what we do in this House is going to put our economy and our people back on track.

And let me tell you, while some of my colleagues stand with their arms

extended and say ``no,'' we stand here today and say ``yes,'' that America can and will recover from this great economic downturn.

I found a Member on the other side of the aisle who would stand with me to make permanent research and development tax credits that will invest in energy programs that will benefit Ohio and put our Nation on the road to recovery. I talk about a tax credit that will help companies like the EBO Group in my district that's studying plug-in hybrids and batteries that can make our cars more efficient, or the Rolls Royce Corporation in my district with the research and development tax credit that will give them the wherewithal to invest in fuel cell technology so we can move away from our dependence on foreign oil.

My friends, we will be judged as leaders or blockers. Are we going to say ``yes'' or are we going to say ``no''? Are we going to act or are we not? This is the time we need to invest in America, in her greatest time of need.

I rise in support of this bill and this amendment, and I applaud the chairman of our distinguished committee for his efforts to make this a bipartisan bill. This bill makes key investments to improve water quality, and could create approximately 480,000 jobs over the next 5 years. This will also bridge the gap of our local communities--who experience significant financial trouble--$3.2 to $11 million annually in trying to fill the gap to modernize their water needs.

The Driehaus amendment would further improve our ability to manage wastewater infrastructure by increasing funding for sewer overflow and control programs.

Sewage overflow is dangerous to all of our constituents, but these days our communities are facing tight budgets that prevent them from addressing these serious and most basic infrastructure needs. We know our country's wastewater infrastructure is old and crumbling, and we must do our part here in this legislation to improve that. Adequate funding will not only preserve the environment and our local political subdivisions to help them modernize their aging sewer infrastructure. It will protect lives. If we did it in Iraq, we should do it here in America.

I rise and support this amendment of the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, many economic indicators show that our country is in her greatest time of need since the Great Depression, with too many citizens unemployed, losing their homes and their jobs, and they're looking to us here in Washington for leadership.

I become increasingly alarmed when I hear the voice of divisive mainstream media hosts attempting to inspire others to join them in wishing failure upon our government, our elected President, and our country in crisis. To wish failure on our elected leaders is to wish failure upon our financial markets, our businesses, our workers, and our children.

Ironically, during the debate leading to the Iraq war conflict, many of the same ``opinion leaders'' suggested that anyone who held a contrary opinion to the President about going to war was somehow uninspired, unpatriotic, and even un-American.

I put my life on the line for this country along with my brothers and sisters in the military so such ill wishers could say whatever they wanted to. The minority's wishing that President Obama fail is wishing that our Nation fails and inflames and ignites and divides our great Nation.

This is the time for a debate of ideas and solutions. In this great time of need, I reject extremism that divides our country, and we should all embrace a voice that unites us around a common thread: that despite all of our disagreements, we are all still Americans.

Thank you, Mr. Altmire, and thank you, Mr. Murphy, for allowing me to participate in this great experience of serving in the House of Representatives here. It's truly an honor and truly a privilege for a grandson of a carpenter and a coal miner and a steelworker, who my parents were the first in their families to go to college and I have two successful brothers. One's a chemist and a pharmacist and the other is in the military. So to serve here is truly an honor.

And, Madam Speaker, I will tell you that people are listening and they do care and they do want to learn about what we're doing here in the House of Representatives. And I said this when we were debating the American Recovery Act and the bill that was going to help put America first. We talked about how this great Nation is in a great recession and that we are finding ourselves in nearly almost double-digit unemployment in Ohio, a great State, a great manufacturing State that has suffered disproportionately to the rest of the country. We have seen jobs pack up and move overseas, families struggle. We have seen families lose entire pensions, lose their way in terms of finding health care for their family, being able to put bread on the table. And I will tell you the good people of Ohio want to work. They want a job. They want to punch a time clock. They want to carry a lunch pail because they believe that hard work and perseverance are what has built this country and made it strong and made it what it is today.

But yet we find the decisions that we have made here, and both Democrats and Republicans, in my humble opinion, share the culpability of this, but the decisions that we have made here need to empower our country, empower our workforce so that we can build roads and bridges and build the new technologies of tomorrow right here in our great State, like what is happening in Pennsylvania, like what is happening in Connecticut, in the northeast, in New Hampshire. All over this country, we have people who believe, like my grandparents did, that with a little bit of hard work and perseverance that America is the place where your hopes and dreams could be realized. And they played by the rules. They punched the time clock. They worked for 30 years at a steel mill. But yet when that company packs up and moves overseas and they give all the money back to the holders of their common stock and the like and those folks who have invested in the company, but yet the people by the sweat of their brow punched the time clock, helped build America for what it is today are left with nothing when that company packs up and moves overseas, like we have seen repeated over and over and over again in Ohio.

And it's time that our generation of Americans stands up and demands more and demands that we put America first, that we invest in our workforce, our greatest asset of people, that we invest in the things that are going to make our country and our economy stronger.

And I pledge to you, as a 30-Something here with this great, fine distinguished group of legislators, that we will work to find answers to things that plague America, that challenge America, but not answers that will divide us along a partisan divide because at the end of the day, these are not Democrat or Republican challenges, they're not conservative or liberal challenges; they're American challenges. And they deserve an answer from both sides of the aisle. But we can't have the same politics of yesterday if we are looking towards tomorrow. And that's what I hope this group speaks about. That is what I hope this group will continue to champion.

I have heard you on the floor before I was ever a congressman. I've seen both of you stand up for what is right and what is honorable for our country to move forward.

And as a matter of point for this Economic Recovery Act, I will tell you this: That I think America is obviously in a great recession, and we will be judged as Members elected to lead this Nation in two measures: by action or inaction. And I challenge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who just want to talk about small parts of this bill that perhaps may draw a little bit of emotion but when you look at the entirety of the bill, it's about investing in our country, in our people, and what will make America and our economy stronger. And we will be judged by what we do, whether we act or whether we don't, whether we block or whether we lead.

But we didn't hear from those who are opposing this when we spent a trillion dollars in Iraq to rebuild roads and bridges over there to make sure that they have new wastewater treatment facilities, new hospitals. We didn't hear about the fact that we're spending unbelievable amounts of money to make sure that they have the access to capital over in this country. While they're running up surpluses with their oil revenue, we're running down deficits. And in 2004 former President George Bush's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, flew to Iraq with one of many billion dollar checks in hand to make sure that every man, woman, and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage. A trillion dollars, my fellow Americans, are over in Iraq making sure that Iraqis have universal health care coverage while we have families in Ohio that right now will not send their kids to the dentist because they can't afford it because they lost their job. There's a huge disconnect.

So we need to understand, are we going to block or are we going to lead? Are we going to invest in our people and in America or are we going to rebuild Iraq? This is a defining moment for our country because a trillion dollars invested in our country at the end of the day is going to make our country stronger.

I agree with the gentleman from Pittsburgh. I have heard from all of our orientations and briefings that we received from nearly 200 economists, the most conservative to the most liberal, have all said that the United States Government has to do something.

And there's only two things that we can do. We can work with the administration and the Federal Reserve to manage interest rates so people can get an auto loan, so they can go and take out a student loan or go to college, or they can take out a mortgage and buy that dream home that they have always wished for, or we can inject huge amounts of capital into the market to help stimulate the economy, to help recover our economy. This isn't going to be the be-all and end-all of economic woes.

In fact, I have told many Ohioans that this will act as a backstop against further job loss and create jobs along the way and invest in America. And that's what it should be about.

I mean, leadership is about action, not just a position. Leadership is about action. And when we take action to invest in our people, invest in our roads, rebuild our bridges, rebuild our schools, and invest in what is our greatest asset, the American people, we are going to make our country stronger.

And Senator Webb said in his book recently--I will throw him a shout- out here, you know, Senator Webb said the health of a nation, the health of a society should not be measured at its apex or at its top, but at its base, at its base. Because that's where the majority of the people work every day to make the living, live the American dream. And they are what are America is about, the hope and promise of America that was often talked about on the campaign trail last year.

You know, I just look at my family's history. The hope and promise of

America is in my family. And they have worked so hard to allow that to happen, but they couldn't have done that without a strong government that understands that measured approaches to help put our people back to work, measured approaches that will invest in key things and strategic things that are going to make our economy stronger and our people stronger are about what we should do.

And I can tell you that when we look at this American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it's just exciting what we are talking about doing here. And the President said this yesterday in his speech to the Nation, when he said that we are going to have a visionary approach to how we approach the 21st-century economy.

Those green energy jobs, that in 3 years we are going to double our green energy production. We are going to invest in plug-in hybrids like we are researching right here in the 16th Congressional District in Ohio. We are going to invest in fuel-cell technology like we are doing right in the 16th District in Ohio. And we are going to invest in biomass research like we are doing in the 16th Congressional District.

Those are going to create jobs back home. Those are going to put people to work, move away from our dependence on foreign oil. And God only knows that we need to move away from our dependence on foreign oil. Forty percent of our Nation's demand comes from the Middle East, and we allow our country to be subject to what OPEC decides for us? No, we can inject this capital to create the jobs of tomorrow and move away from our dependence by research and technology.

This is what we have done. This is what we have done to make our country stronger. So I submit to you that leadership is about action and not just position. We have to do something to make our country stronger.

Thank you.

The gentleman from Pennsylvania is very appropriate in his remarks. And I will tell you that, you know, from a freshman's perspective, I think this bill that made it through the Congress was the eighth wonder of the world. And you out there listening may wonder why: Because there were no earmarks in the bill, and there were no earmarks to specific districts in the bill.

And I considered that the eighth wonder of the world, because Article I, section 1 of the Constitution said the Congress will make appropriations. We will appropriate the funds for the projects, for the public policy that we believe is most important to move our country forward.

We talked about financial stability a little bit, about how we need to make our economy stronger.

Well, it comes with prudent reforms that we need to make within Wall

Street, within the stock market, because it doesn't make any sense at all from this economics major at St. Bonaventure University, the fact that we are allowing speculators to drive our economy.

The laws of supply and demand have seemingly been thrown out the window, and we are allowing people to bet on the price of fuel going up, people to bet on the price of commodities going up, like grain and cereals and those sorts of things, bet on people foreclosing, bet on people failing to pay their mortgage. To me, that sounds like a recipe for disaster, and we need some stability in our financial markets, and we need an administration like President Obama is going to enact to make sure that the Securities and Exchange Commission and those regulatory agencies for our financial markets are going to do the jobs that we empowered them to do and to bring to justice those people who are manipulating the economy.

I can tell you that many people are struggling back home. In fact, people are working so hard. In fact, a recent study that was done late last year found that people of average means, average working-class families, are working 18 percent harder, yet their wages have started to decline and stagnate and go down while their tax burden has gone up.

Now, the top 1 percent of the country has seen their wages increase and their tax burdens reduced because of the last administration's policy that will reward the wealthiest of our country. Those folks who have the means to pay and help determine public policy for our country to invest in the things that are going to make our country stronger, we are giving them the breaks when we should be giving the breaks to the middle-class families. Remember what Senator Webb said. The health of a society is measured not at its top, at its apex, but at its base, because it is the base that invests the most into this country.

I tell you, I was so proud to hear President Obama say and to be strong as our Nation's leader and perhaps the leader of the free world suggest that we will make it through this crisis. We will make it through this crisis. America has seen tough times before, and he said that the weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of our Nation. And he was so right, that we have the wherewithal to get through this.

To my friends on the other side who are going to prepare their charts and graphs and talk about exploding Federal deficits, we need to understand that President Obama inherited this. He inherited $1 trillion that was spent on Medicare part D, but yet families and seniors back home still can't get their prescription drugs and pharmacies are struggling.

We spent $1 trillion in Iraq to rebuild roads and bridges over there. President Bush thought we needed to make that investment, to make sure that every man, woman and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage. We gave $1 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

Well, it is time that we focus on the middle class, not on the apex, but on the base of our Nation, and we do that by investing in the people that have made this country stronger and will make this country stronger.

One last point I want to make here before we wrap this up this evening. We talk about the budget deficit. This country since its beginnings has carried some sort of debt, from the Revolutionary War on up through the present time we find ourselves.

In 1946, in 1946, after this country made it through the Great Depression and made it through World War II, the government was spending more and borrowing more than the economy could produce; spending more and borrowing more than the economy could produce. Right now we are at 38 percent of what the economy can produce. After this investment in America and we are on the road to recovery, we will be about 50 percent. We still have to pay this off, that is acknowledged, but we are in a great recession, and we will have the political will and the economic wherewithal to pay down this debt and get it closer to the margins that President Reagan saw back in the eighties, right around 28 to 30 percent. So we need to make those decisions. President Obama talked about that resolve. We will make it through this time.

Madam Speaker, the United States of America is in a great recession and we will be judged as a United States Government by two measures--by action or inaction.

And I tell my friends on the other side of the aisle who are not going to vote for this measure today, you are walking away from America and Americans in her greatest time of need. I remember as a C-130 pilot flying missions in and out of Iraq how much money we were spending over there to rebuild roads and bridges in Iraq and to make sure every man, woman and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage. You didn't bat an eye to vote for them. You didn't bat an eye to bail out $700 billion for Wall Street. This is about investing in America and Americans in their greatest time of need. We have to be measured by what we're going to do. Are we going to be leaders or are we going to be blockers? Are we going to act or are we not? Are we going to vote for Iraqis or Americans?

Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

I thank the gentleman from Connecticut for his efforts, as well as Congressman Kennedy for his stalwart work for making sure that we do the right thing for Americans.

And my friends, Ohio is struggling. Ohioans have lost their jobs over the last 8 years in record numbers. In fact, we have not crawled out of the recession from 2001. And so many, so many Ohioans--just like so many Americans--are one accident, one medical emergency, one diagnosis away from complete and utter bankruptcy.

Yet we spend here in America, like Mr. Kennedy said, more than any other industrialized country in the world on health care. More than any other industrialized country. Yet, our life expectancy is on par with Cuba. We, as a Nation, spend nearly $12,000 for family coverage; $12,000 of disposable income is going for health care insurance.

My friends, this not only makes moral sense and makes sense in terms of the right thing to do, but makes sense in economic terms.

Let me tell you this. We have to cover every American. We have to have a system that covers every American. We need to emphasize prevention, and we have to make sure that health care is portable between jobs, something that has been played out so often in Ohio as Ohioans transfer from job to job because of the downturn in our economy. And we need to end the discrimination that's based on pre- existing conditions.

And I tell you, Mr. Speaker, there is no issue more important than this one because this issue alone is costing millions of jobs and costing thousands of people from seeking preventative care. We spend 75 percent of all that health care money, nearly $7,000 per person, we spend 75 percent responding to chronic illnesses, illnesses that could be treated if we just saw routine visits to the doctor. Chronic diseases like diabetes, asthma, and heart disease.

And we see that only 4 cents on every dollar, Mr. Speaker, 4 cents on every dollar is spent to promote healthy lifestyles. There is a huge disconnect.

And when we see the fact that big insurance companies block and prevent people from going to see routine visits to their doctor, we are actually costing the American taxpayer, small businesses, and larger businesses that have huge legacy costs more money.

In fact, a recent study--my colleague from Connecticut, I'm sure he knows this one--a recent study suggests that $84 billion a year is spent by big insurance companies to block and deny claims. From you going to see your doctor, whether it's for a diabetes treatment, whether it's for asthma, or for heart condition; and that same study pointed out that nearly 77 billion is all that it would cost to cover the nearly 50 million uninsured or underinsured Americans in this great country.

We must take action now, because let me give you two scenarios before I yield back my time that has been played out in Ohio over the last 8 years.

That factory worker that worked at Rubbermaid where the plant closed and the job went overseas, now they've got to find new work and they also have to find new health care insurance. And when you see those individuals struggling, those families trying to send their kids to a dental appointment or try to send their young family to go see their physician because they have some sort of ailment--maybe the worker themselves, Mr. Speaker, has diabetes and they can't go see routine visits to their physician now. So they get an ulcer on their foot. It goes to a point where they now have to go to an emergency room to seek care.

And it costs all of us paying into the system, four, if not five times more by seeking emergency room care versus seeking care from a primary care physician.

So we are actually losing money, costing ourselves more money by not ensuring everyone. We need a robust system that allows an employer- based system that is portable that they can take from job to job and the like.

So if that person now who worked at Rubbermaid is working at Wal*Mart, they should have a portable health care plan that allows them that transition period.

But what we do now is we have to pass an extension of COBRA benefits because the Congress--and especially our former President--did not address this issue and take it head on. Small businesses are asking for relief, American families are asking for relief, and it's about time we deliver that to them.

I would submit to my colleague from Connecticut, who has taken on this issue headstrong--and we appreciate that--that a recent poll in Ohio from the University of Cincinnati showed that nearly 20 percent of all Ohioans--11\1/2\ people in Ohio--nearly 20 percent, 1.4 million Ohioans from age 18 to 64 lacked health care insurance.

So that person who is transitioning from job to job who can't provide the health care insurance they need, it makes economic sense that we cover them to make sure that they can seek treatment because it's going to cost us more down at the end, four, if not five times if they have to take their child to a hospital emergency room to seek routine care that they could have done if they just went to their physician. It not only makes moral sense, it makes sense for all of Americans.

And I have to tell you this. We hear the diatribe and the arguments from the other side of the aisle, but my colleagues and the Speaker need to know this: that in 2004, George Bush's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, flew to Iraq with one of many billion dollar checks in hand to make sure that every man, woman, and child in Iraq had universal health care coverage. And what he said is that Iraqi families and their children deserve health care, but you do not. And we're going to spend American taxpayer dollars to make sure Iraqis can go and seek routine care with their physicians but not American families.

And I think that is a huge disconnect. And we need to talk about that because we are building brand new roads and bridges and hospitals and waste water treatment facilities over in Iraq. But when it comes time to put Americans back to work and to ensure that Americans can seek routine care with their physicians and with their family doctors, we hear nothing but blocking.

And I tell you, Mr. Speaker, if we were to give a Heisman award, we would give it today to some of the dialogue that I heard today on this floor.

This is about putting America first, putting Americans first, putting Americans back into their doctors' offices so that they can have valuable health care and they can seek routine care. It's about the American family and putting Americans first.

That's what the stimulus and economic recovery package is all about, and that's what providing health care insurance to every American is about.

Mr. Chairman, the people of Ohio's 16th District elected me to fight for them and their tax dollars. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is about putting America first. It is about investing in our country. Some on the other side didn't bat an eye when they voted to use American tax dollars to rebuild Iraq, spending billions on new roads and bridges there. There was no outrage during those spending days.

Our people are hurting. Our people are struggling and asking us for leadership. It is time to put partisanship aside. In this time of great need, investing in our schools, our roads, our bridges is about making America stronger. Ohio will receive a much-needed economic boost with these resources, and we will invest in the future of our country. Ohio needs the estimated $1.5 billion in infrastructure improvements to help create jobs. Creating jobs in alternative energy like fuel cells or plug-in hybrids being researched in my district will move us away from the dependence on foreign oil. This bill will help America innovate and invest in the jobs of tomorrow.