Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed the following votes. I would have voted the following ways: For rollcall vote 361 I would have voted ``yea.'' For rollcall vote 362 I would have voted ``yea.'' For rollcall vote 363 I would have voted ``nay.'' For rollcall vote 364 I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Chairman, this Memorial Day, we thank our men and women serving our Nation--our veterans, their families, and those who have given their lives to defend and protect Americans. We honor their sacrifices on behalf of our freedom as a Nation.

My colleagues and I have worked very hard in our Armed Services Committee on the National Defense Authorization Act, which I believe to be an effective and comprehensive blueprint for our Nation's defense both at home and abroad. Most importantly, I believe this bill provides our men and women in uniform with the support and protection they need and deserve both on and off the battlefield.

Every day, these brave men and women put their lives on the line for the safety and security of our Nation, and it is our job to make sure that they receive the quality support and services they need, especially when they return home.

I am very grateful for my amendments to improve the detection and the diagnosis of common combat-related afflictions, like that of ringing in the ears, of posttraumatic stress disorder, and of traumatic brain injury, which are all included in this year's authorization. The sooner we catch these prevalent service-related injuries, the sooner we will simultaneously improve the quality of the lives of our troops and will reduce the costs of health care across the board for them.

So, as this Memorial Day approaches, I hope we all remember our troops--those who are currently serving and

those who have served our country to defend our freedoms.

If this bill makes it off the floor as it came out of the committee, which was in one piece, then I will be supporting it. If there are changes that deal with some other issues that this committee has raised in the last few minutes as objectionable, then we will be considering them.

Mr. Speaker, fifteen years ago next Monday, America was shocked and saddened by a murderous attack in our heartland. 168 Oklahomans died and hundreds others injured when a homegrown terrorist detonated a bomb outside the Oklahoma City Federal Building.

Today I offer a resolution to commemorate that tragedy, but it is also a resolution of hope.

On April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City, the State of Oklahoma and our Nation saw the face of evil. But rather than cower in fear we came together. From the very first moments after the blast, neighbors rushed forward to help neighbors. They lined up around the block to give blood. They became volunteer rescuers--and one, a nurse, gave her life in that effort.

As our wounds began to heal, we vowed always to remember those we lost, those who were injured and those who were changed forever. Five years after the bombing, in 2000, a beautiful and peaceful outdoor memorial was dedicated on the same block that was once marked by blood and tears.

That memorial includes 168 empty chairs in memory of those who died-- 19 of them children. It contains a reflecting pool and a tough old tree that survived the blast. We call it the Survivor Tree, and it is the emblem of our memorial.

A year later, we added a museum where visitors come each day to learn more about the bombing, and to absorb the lesson that in our free Nation, free speech is honorable, but violence is not.

Those are the physical symbols of hope. There are others just as vital. Dozens of children lost one or more parent in the bombing, or were themselves injured. Today a special fund is sending some of those children to college.

And each year, as we will next Monday, we gather again at the Oklahoma City National Memorial to pause for 168 seconds of silence, to honor memories, to see old friends with whom we share an unbreakable bond forged of both tragedy and hope. And we also come to renew that vow we made in 1995--we will never forget.

Fifteen years ago this Congress and the Clinton administration stepped forward to bring the help and the justice the events of that day demanded. Subsequent laws made it easier to prosecute terrorists and bring them to final justice.

This resolution continues the commitment of this Congress to stand with and for Oklahoma City. In memory of all those touched by the events of April 19, 1995, I urge its unanimous passage.''

Madam Speaker, I am pleased today to be able to introduce our guest chaplain for the day, Pastor Sharon Daugherty, who leads one of our Nation's great institutions of faith, Victory Christian Center of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Sharon founded Victory Christian with her husband, Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty. Tragically, we lost him to an illness late last year, but Pastor Daugherty still is very committed to the church and has vowed to carry on the wonderful family tradition. Victory Christian Center operates a school for 1,300 students, has summer camps, local and worldwide outreach missions, an international Bible institute, youth programs, and a community health clinic. It also includes job fairs for those looking for employment. And it has much, much more.

Most of all, Victory Christian Center is the faith home to a congregation of more than 17,000 Oklahomans, one of the largest in America. This is a time when faith matters so much to our people. It binds us together, transcends our differences, and reminds us that our liberties are divinely grounded and divinely inspired.

Pastor Sharon Daugherty is a friend, a good neighbor, and a true faith leader in Oklahoma and America. I am so proud to welcome her today to be our chaplain of the day and thank her for a wonderful prayer.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 171, I was unexpectedly detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

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

Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity to visit with Oklahomans all across our State and to talk about what really concerns them; and what I hear from my Oklahomans is they are concerned about their families, and they are concerned about their Nation, and they are concerned about their jobs and their children's future and how their children's future will even look, especially with the debates we are having here in Washington, D.C. They are concerned about their jobs and the economy and making rent payments, house payments, car payments, and paying for prescription drugs. They are concerned about their children going to college and about their education.

I have also had an opportunity to speak to our Oklahoma businesses and ask them, What do you think about what we are doing here in Washington? And they tell me time and time again that they are concerned about the big government intrusion into business, and they want government to stay out of their way and let them create jobs and let them invest and create opportunities and be entrepreneurs; yet what they hear from Washington is we are talking about more rules and regulations and more government takeover of industries and more taxes and higher taxes and the government expansion of programs like this health care bill. They are sitting on the sidelines and they are not creating those jobs and opportunities for my Oklahoma families so they can feel stable and secure in their lives.

Mr. Speaker, this health care bill that we are debating this weekend will change the course of our Nation. It is going to be a massive expansion of the Federal Government, a massive expansion, taking over our freedoms, our ability to make our own decisions about our health care. It is a massive expansion into one-sixth of our Nation's economy in the health care industry. I want my Oklahomans to know that I will stand firmly against voting for the Pelosi-Obama health care government takeover that we are going to be voting on this weekend, and I will not vote for it.

This vote will be one of the most far-reaching, significant pieces of major social policy legislation in our lifetime and will definitely affect the future of all of our children. It will change the course of future generations of our children. Already our Nation is facing huge deficits and large amounts of debt, out-of-control spending by Congress, and that is hurting our economy and killing jobs and even threatening the stability of our Nation and our businesses and our families.

As we now know, many States are facing also hard times from budget deficits, and they are having to cut services and making really tough, painful spending decisions about the delivery of services to their citizens. States are also having a hard time paying for growing Medicaid costs. And now this health care bill, if it passes, will pass on down more unfunded Medicaid costs upon our States and create even bigger, nanny state entitlement programs, all at a time when Medicaid reimbursements are so low that doctors are dropping both Medicaid and having a hard time--it is hard to even find doctors who will see Medicaid or Medicare patients, especially in our rural areas. In fact, I read an article this week that said some pharmacies are not accepting new Medicaid patients because of the low reimbursement rate.

So the question is: Will our children's future and the American citizen's future be better if we pass this health care bill? And the question will be: Will our citizens be able to choose their own doctor or will their doctor be deciding whether to chose them, or will there even be a doctor for them to see?

The U.S. already has a shortage of doctors. We just heard the previous speaker talk about how 46 percent of the primary care physicians say they may drop out of the medical profession if this bill passes. From my State of Oklahoma, it is estimated that this legislation will impose over $500 million of unfunded Medicaid expansion mandates on our State.

Mr. Speaker, I ask our colleagues to reject this bill. Let's work on creating jobs and opportunities. Let's work on a lasting solution for health care reform.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 133, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and pay tribute to a fine American, Blair Roberts, on an occasion when he and his business have received a prestigious honor: the International Circle of Excellence Award for 2009.

The Circle of Excellence, which is awarded by the international dealer organization of Navistar, Inc., honors international truck dealerships that achieve the highest level of dealer performance with respect to operating and financial standards, market representation, and most importantly, customer satisfaction. It is the highest honor a dealer principal can receive from the company.

Blair's business, Roberts Truck Center, is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and has grown into one of the preeminent truck dealerships in the Southwest and the entire nation. He currently manages five of the 13 dealer locations within the Roberts Truck Center family business, which he owns with his brother Blaine. It employs a total of 467 in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. With this most recent award, Roberts Truck Center has received the Circle of Excellence, under Blair's leadership, a total of five times.

Blair has achieved this level of accomplishment and recognition through many years of hard work and service to his industry and community. Active in the industry, he is chairman of the International Dealer Council and was past co-chairman of the International Product Advisory Board. Today, in addition to his leadership of Roberts Truck Center, he has also built a successful truck leasing business, Roberts Idealease, which is a multi-year winner of the IdealGold Award for Excellence.

Through his commitment to hard work and outstanding customer service, he has built an economically vital business of which he can be justly proud. Madam Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join with me in congratulating Blair Roberts for his record of accomplishment and for his many contributions to his community, State and Nation.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 13, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Madam Speaker, I am saddened to rise today to note the passing of Dr. James Johnson, an adoring husband, cherished father, and respected physician in my home state of Oklahoma.

A lifelong hemophiliac, Dr. J, as he was known to so many of his patients, dedicated his life to healing others. During his more than 25 years practicing medicine, Dr. J treated thousands of patients, and worked with researchers and insurance companies on finding new ways to treat and hopefully one day cure hemophilia.

Dr. J was particularly fond of reminding students to continually challenge their minds--because while their bodies may someday fail them, they could always count on their knowledge. No one lived this out better than he did. During his months in the hospital, I am told, he would consult on his own case and instruct med students performing basic procedures on him. Always gracious and ever the educator, Dr. J would kindly suggest, ``You know, son, if you do it this way, you won't hurt your patient so much.''

Dr. J owned his own practice for many years, and was most recently medical director for a company that performs house calls for the elderly and homebound. Over the years, he worked as an ER doctor, a prison doctor, and a primary care doctor. When off the job, Dr. J was also a die-hard Sooners fan, a Thunder season-ticket holder, an amateur pilot, and an active member of his local church. But the roles he cherished most were those of husband and father.

Dr. J was laid to rest Monday in Edmond. While we take comfort in knowing that he is at peace, the State of Oklahoma and particularly who know Dr. J grieve this loss. I believe I speak for the whole House when I say our thoughts and prayers go out to Dr. J's wife of 26 years, Becky, their daughter, Ashley, and the hundreds of family, friends, colleagues, and patients who knew and love him so dearly.

Mr. Speaker, I object.

Mr. Speaker, I object.

I object.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition against this freedom- killing, constitutional affront, job-killing bill, health care bill.

Mr. Speaker, the American people understand the need for health care reform. They just don't want socialized medicine. They don't want the Federal Government taking over our health care decisions, taking away our freedoms of choice about health care. They don't want more Federal deficit spending on the backs of our children and future generations of our children, and they don't want more taxes upon small business, especially in this recession.

They don't like the Federal Government taking away our freedoms guaranteed under this Constitution, and they don't want the Federal Government interfering in our States' rights. They don't want unfunded mandates upon the States, and they don't want government-funded taxpayer abortions upon our families.

Mr. Speaker, men and women have fought for our freedoms for this Nation for generations, but this health care bill will change the face of our Nation and put our Nation on a trajectory of a Federal Government takeover in so many areas of our freedoms and our lives.

Let's reject this health care bill, and let's start all over and pass real, meaningful health care reform.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of H.R. 1838, the SBA Women's Business Centers Improvements Act. This important legislation rearranges the distribution of funding to women's business centers to offer temporary assistance for new businesses and startups for women's business centers rather than empower and make permanent dependency on the Federal Government with our current system. I want to just say thank you to Chairwoman Velazquez for all her help on this piece of legislation. It has been a great pleasure to work with her.

Mr. Speaker, small businesses create seven out of 10 new jobs in the United States, and they are the economic engine of our economy. Further, women-owned businesses contribute nearly $3 trillion to our national economy and create or maintain 23 million jobs and employ or generate 16 percent of the jobs in our Nation's economy.

Women's business centers are an important part of the grant programs that are funded by the Small Business Administration. Today, women's business centers across the country are providing women entrepreneurs with much-needed education, with training, with technical assistance and access to capital in startup and operating their small businesses.

Women's business centers serve over 100,000 women and tens of thousands of businesses each year. In the mid-1990s, the Federal Government began awarding grants to women's business centers that were operating as nonprofit organizations in conjunction with institutions of higher learning. Originally these grants were intended to be awarded to business centers in their first 5 years with the understanding that after this 5-year period had ended, the center would be financially self-sustaining.

Although many women's business centers did make this goal, some have not, and for a variety of reasons. As a result, a greater percentage of the funding of this program has been consumed by the operating costs of potentially unviable centers, rather than the intended purpose of helping to establish new business centers. The result is a drag on the system, unviable business centers that are not truly serving an unmet need in their communities. This, of course, jeopardizes the effectiveness and the viability of the entire program.

The SBA Women's Business Centers Improvements Act of 2009 will restore the original purpose held by the Federal Government when this program was created. By offering a three-tiered system of funding and lower caps on spending for older business centers, we can ensure a balanced approach and a balanced percentage of funding is used to support both new and existing business centers.

Modernizing the SBA entrepreneurial development programs will ensure small businesses have the opportunity to lead our Nation out of this recession into economic prosperity. The SBA Women's Business Centers Improvements Act is a huge step in the right direction and provides a much-needed helping hand to help our Nation's small businesses and our women's business centers.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I don't have any other speakers, but I do have some further comments, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a few issues today as I finish up here and that is about the Department of Labor and how they have announced the national unemployment rate, which has reached 10.2 percent during the month of October. Another report shows that businesses with less than 50 employees lost 75,000 private sector jobs in the month of October, also. Small businesses and individuals and families have been devastated by this 26-year high unemployment rate.

Here we are, Mr. Speaker, during this important debate in our Nation about

health care reform, talking about raising taxes on small business during this recession. Mr. Speaker, I personally believe, and I think the majority of us believe, that small businesses are the economic engines in our communities and in our States and are the way that we can help lead our Nation out of this recession.

Yet as we look at the health care reform bill that we're getting ready to take up, and you look at different sections of it and how it will affect small businesses and job creation and unemployment, I am deeply concerned about several sections of this piece of legislation.

An example is page 297. Section 501 would impose a 2.5 percent tax on all individuals who do not purchase bureaucrat-approved health insurance. This tax would apply to individuals with incomes under $250,000, thus breaking a central promise of President Obama's Presidential campaign that we would not be taxing people under $250,000. Section 512 under page 313 imposes an 8 percent tax on jobs for firms that cannot afford to purchase the bureaucrat-approved health coverage. And according to an analysis by a Harvard professor, such a tax would place millions of people at risk for unemployment; and a majority of those workers could be minorities who, we believe, would lose their jobs at twice the rate of their white counterparts.

Section 551, page 336 imposes additional job-killing taxes in the form of a $500 billion surcharge, more than half of which will hit small businesses, according to a model developed by President Obama's senior economic adviser, which could increase taxes and cost us another 5.5 million jobs. Of course we know that this piece of legislation also adds $729 billion in new taxes on small businesses and on individuals who cannot afford health insurance coverage and employers who cannot afford to even provide that health insurance.

And of course another $1 trillion in new Federal spending on expanded health care insurance coverage over 10 years is some of the projections of this health care bill that we're getting ready to take up. We've had several different groups express concern about small businesses, about the unemployment rate, about the cost of this proposed health care plan. The NFIB has estimated that 1.5 million jobs will be lost due to the employer mandate on small businesses. The nearly one-third of uninsured workers who earn within $3 of the minimum wage will be put at risk of unemployment if their employers are required to offer insurance when one in 10 Americans are unemployed already.

It is a bad time to be mandating these new tax increases on our small businesses. We know that the pay-or-play provision could reduce the hiring of low-income workers and that those wages could fall even more because of required mandates on health insurance.

This bill that we're talking about for health care is going to leave, we believe, 34 million Americans without health insurance because of expansion of Medicaid, and millions of Americans will lose their current health care coverage if the private sector market is driven out of the marketplace that offers insurance.

According to a 2009 study by the National Federation of Independent Business, the cost of health insurance is the number one concern to small business owners. Small businesses create seven out of 10 new jobs in the U.S. and should be able to provide their employees with health benefits and should be able to provide it at a reasonable rate that helps these small businesses be competitive, be one of the vital benefits that they can provide to their employees, which is small businesses.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that health insurance premiums for single workers rose 74 percent for small businesses between the period of 2001 and 2008; and administrative expenses for small group plans account for 25 to 27 percent of premiums compared to that of 5 to 10 percent for large businesses.

So, Mr. Speaker, what we know is that if we impose more taxes, more mandates, more surcharges on our small businesses at a time when our unemployment rate just hit a record high for 26 years, over 10 percent, then our small businesses are going to be further devastated by any type of health care reform proposal that has a government mandate, that has new surcharges, new taxes, huge new taxes on small businesses.

Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned because small businesses are the economic engine of our local economies. They are the way that we can lead ourselves out of this recession, and that is why I will be opposed to the current health care proposal by Speaker Pelosi.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, if we pass Speaker Pelosi's 1,990-page bill, which creates a massive new Federal bureaucracy to manage our health care system, States will face huge unfunded mandates.

The $34 billion worth of unfunded mandates to the States in this bill might help hide the true cost of this $1.3 trillion legislation, but the truth is the States will be picking up a lot of these costs. And the only way States could deal with the increased costs and the unfunded mandates would be to look at raising taxes on small businesses and on individuals, and that is unacceptable.

Speaker Pelosi may be all right with increasing the national debt and spending up to $1.4 trillion on this legislation, but when the bill comes due, the children of America and their children will be the ones who will be paying a hefty price for reckless spending in this Congress.

It is estimated that this Pelosi health care bill will cost Oklahoma $127 million a year in unfunded mandates. In our State of Oklahoma, we're required to balance our budget each year.

Let's kill this bill because it will be bad for the States and bad for unfunded State mandates.