Floor Statements

I thank the chairman.

Madam Speaker, this conference report that we bring to our colleagues for a vote today represents a remarkable good-faith effort by the members of a committee who combined--who worked together, Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate--to act responsibly for the American people and in response to what the American people have asked us to do.

As a physician--and I practiced for 16 years in the Hudson Valley in New York--the importance of extending reimbursement assurance for our seniors who rely on Medicare, for the doctors who care for them who have to keep their doors open is a crucial issue. But not only did we provide that assurance through the end of this year, we also provided for some other crucial provisions for our rural hospitals, for our ambulance services, for a number of other aspects of care that rely on our action and on the responsible action that we take today.

And, yes, we did pay for those extensions in a responsible way, as we must in a time of looming fiscal crisis. We have a debt that extends to $50,000, roughly, per man, woman and child in this country. It is unconscionable for us to fail to acknowledge that responsibility. For all of us to do our part in that way, we have, yes, asked our Federal employees to help us. Because as the employer, the Federal Government has to take its responsible steps as well.

The hope that all of us have is that we will continue to work through this year. We will move from here with this consensus document and continue to work on the growth that our economy desperately needs and do so together by controlling what the Federal Government does.

I thank the gentleman so much for holding this Special Order session, which is so important.

One thing, the comments by my distinguished colleagues have been perceptive and enlightening and moving. There is one aspect I might be able to add, although they have said so much.

I would like to invite our seniors and those who love them and who may accompany them in the course of their care, as I have had the privilege of doing for my own parents, both of whom have relied on Medicare for many years, to talk with their doctors about what it means when Medicare changes the way it deals with the doctors' practices and what it will mean for our seniors in their having the ability to be cared for by the doctors they prefer and in the places where they are comfortable and that are familiar and that they like and trust as well as what may happen if Medicare loses the funds that now exist in the trust fund, which are running out very, very rapidly.

I think it's important for patients and doctors throughout the United States to have that conversation and for our doctors to hear their patients' perspectives and for patients to hear from their doctors how tough it may be for a lot of doctors' practices to keep their doors open if Medicare loses the funds that it needs and if that's accelerated through the Affordable Care Act, which does, as we've mentioned many times but is so important to say, take an enormous piece of crucial funding away from Medicare. We can't afford that. A half a trillion dollars is an enormous amount of money. So there are lots of threats looming on the horizon for our doctors' practices.

I had the privilege of practicing ophthalmology in Mount Kisco, New York, for 16 years. I took care of Medicare patients and I cherished them. It was a privilege, as you mentioned, Dr. Fleming, to care for those patients, so many of whom have done so much for our country and for our communities. Yet I can attest to the fact that it can be very difficult to keep your doors open when Medicare keeps ratcheting down what it will pay for certain services even in the face of the fact that doctors have rent to pay and staff to pay and that they have insurance, including malpractice insurance, which can be very expensive in a State like my own home State of New York.

It can become very, very difficult to balance all of those things, and that's why it's so important to make sure that Medicare has the funds it needs

and that we protect Medicare for the future in the way that we handle its premium structure. Premium support will be a great help to us, but those are the things that we need to hear about from our patients and our doctors. So I would like to urge everybody to talk with your doctors, to find out the stories, to find out what they want to tell you so that the patients and doctors can take that message home to their Members of Congress, to their Senators and to the President.

I thank you, Dr. Fleming, for all you're doing to support a wonderful cause.

Madam Speaker, this past week, I had the pleasure to visit Fryer Machine Systems in Patterson, New York, in our beautiful Hudson Valley, Congressional District 19. They have spent 30 years in the Hudson Valley making the big machines that make components for manufacturers around the world. A local employer, loads of potential being held back by nearly every aspect of Federal policy. Trade, environment, education, financial services, and health care all are burdening this great local business. But the number one problem that Mr. Fryer would like us to fix here in the Federal Government is the Federal deficit.

So as we approach our work this year, I will bear this vividly in mind. We must have sympathy, respect, and a sense of awe for our hardworking, hard-pressed taxpayers and job creators. They are the true engine--not the Federal Government. They are the true engine of growth and the ultimate purchaser and securer of our liberties.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Brennan P. Mahoney of Carmel, New York for service to his nation as an engineer in the United States Army Reserve and for dedication to his role as a Veterans Service Officer for the New York State Division of Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. Mahoney, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture and a Master of Science degree in Education and Training, joined the U.S. Army Reserve in 1982. The record of Mr. Mahoney's 29 years of service describes a distinguished career that begins with an assignment to West Germany as a Bridge Specialist in 1982, followed by mobilization for a 15 month tour in Iraq beginning in 2006. In addition, he distinguished himself as a New York State Veterans Service Officer earning him the respect and gratitude of those he assisted. Mr. Mahoney has received numerous awards and honors for dedication.

Lieutenant Colonel Mahoney is currently holding orders for his third active-duty deployment. He is expected to leave his home and family later this month to serve in harm's way once again, this time in Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize Lieutenant Colonel Brennan P. Mahoney. We are fortunate to have benefited from his dedication and service.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to go red today and to honor our Girl Scouts.

We have a wonderful woman in our beautiful Hudson Valley, Martha, who is from Wappingers Falls and who is a former computer programmer and a current substitute teacher. She wrote to me: It broke my heart to hear that Kodak filed for bankruptcy. What is being done to keep the companies that are producing made in the U.S.A. products here in the United States?

Martha, that's a great question. And here's what we can do and what we're doing in the House of Representatives. We're working to make our Tax Code flatter and fairer. We're working to remove burdensome and unnecessary regulations. And we're working to take less from hardworking Americans like you so that we can spend and save and invest right here in our communities and in our country. We've sent 30 bills to the Senate, 27 of which still sit unanswered.

So this week in the House of Representatives, we're working further to shrink the Federal Government and to make our budget process have common sense the way you do in your own homes. I urge the Senate to join us to work together to revive our economy and make America open for business again.

Mr. Speaker, last November I hosted a jobs fair in New York's Hudson Valley. A thousand local residents came to meet with nearly 40 local employers, all seeking work, of course, all offering work.

At Christmas I was very happy to receive a card from one of our residents. She had found a job at our jobs fair. So the question I have as we approach the President's State of the Union tonight is: How can we multiply this story by 14 million? And I think we can do it if we work together, House and Senate and President, to free American enterprise to create jobs.

Washington cannot regulate or tax us into growth, but we can work together to lift burdens and bring the Federal Government to the right size to serve, and not to suffocate, a strong and healthy economy.

I stand ready to work with our colleagues to pursue this. It is simple common sense.

Mr. Speaker, on December 10 Pamela from Greenwood Lake, New York, in our beautiful 19th District, sent the following letter to me: ``Stop any more Federal spending. Less is better. Europe is a lesson for us. We live in the greatest Nation on Earth.''

And, Pamela, you're absolutely right. If we are going to spread the blessings of the greatest opportunity society in history, then as we enter this holiday season, we need the promise of growth.

Your House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats alike, have as of today passed 27 bills, job-growing, growth-promoting bills that protect American workers and job creators from tax increases, roll back burdensome regulations, and end the Federal spending that suffocates the economic engine of enterprise. And we keep them listed on a card so everybody knows.

I urge the Senate to act now to put those bills to work and put our people back to work and give every American good reason to look forward to a happy new year in this land of liberty.

Thank you, Dr. Fleming, and I add my thanks to our distinguished colleague from Georgia in gratitude for your hosting and managing this session tonight.

We just had a Medicare telephone town hall today with our constituents in the beautiful Hudson Valley. We had a Medicare administrator with us because it's open enrollment season for Medicare throughout the country, I believe, up through December 7. So we were very grateful to have a Medicare administrator with us who helped answer some of the questions about some of the complexities of Medicare because there are a number of them, as you might imagine.

But we did get one question that was conspicuous because the gentleman asked me, and it's one that we've all been asked, as Dr. DesJarlais was saying not long ago, ``Nan, why are you against Medicare?'' I explained to my constituent that gosh, sir, it's exactly the opposite. I want to preserve and protect Medicare. I want to make it secure and sound. This is very important to all of us, to me as a doctor. I had the privilege of practicing for 16 years. I'm an opthamologist. So many of my patients were seniors. I'm the daughter of two elderly parents, both of whom rely on their Medicare benefits. So the last thing that I would want to do, the last thing that any of us want to do is to harm Medicare. We know how important it is.

More specifically, this nice gentleman was asking about our vote on the budget this past spring. And as all of us here know and as our listeners may not be fully aware, we did pass a budget in the House of Representatives this past April. They may not have heard quite as much about it as they otherwise should have, if you will, because the Senate did not pass a budget. They did give ours 47 more votes than the one proposed by the President. Nonetheless, that was not enough to pass a budget so we've been waiting now, the American public, for at least 2\1/2\ years for the Senate to pass a budget.

But in our budget, and Dr. Gingrey and Dr. Fleming have just been referring to the $575 billion that was removed from Medicare by the massive 2010 health care overhaul. In our budget, we restore those funds to Medicare. That is a very, very important fact.

We all voted here as doctors, as caring legislators, as representatives of our districts to restore funding to Medicare, to strengthen Medicare, not to weaken it. That's the last thing we want to do and the last thing we can afford to do.

So I think it's very important for the American people to understand that as things stand now, the Medicare benefits that people are counting on are threatened in ways that they don't have to be.

So that's something that people should think about, people who cherish Medicare, who receive Medicare and who have loved ones who depend on Medicare; that Medicare is, unfortunately, as our colleagues have discussed, running out of funds.

When we think about payroll taxes, and we hear a lot about payroll taxes in the news these days, payroll taxes go to pay for Social Security and for Medicare. And the way these programs were set up, as we all know but just so that everybody understands, they were supposed to be, people would contribute from their paychecks, and the money would be kept by the Federal Government and then returned to them in their benefits in their senior years, when they would need them.

That could be a very helpful thing; but as Dr. DesJarlais has pointed out, thank the good Lord, people are living much, much longer than they were when Medicare was first made law.

So we are facing a challenge because, for several decades, contributions to Medicare from the payroll taxes were built up. People weren't taking out as much in their Medicare benefits as they were paying in. The baby boomers were not part of the Medicare-eligible senior group yet, and now they are. Now our seniors are living many years longer, thank the good Lord--and I wouldn't trade a day with my parents nor with any of our seniors--and our health care is wonderful in the United States, but it is costly for a number of reasons.

The Medicare funds that were built up have now started to be depleted, and they're going to run out, it's projected, anywhere from 2024 to now 2021. What we all know is that the estimates are probably off the mark. So, to take an extra $575 billion out of Medicare is the last thing we want to do.

It's very important for everybody to understand that because, although there are workers in this country who are contributing their payroll taxes now--and those are going to help fund Medicare--when those folks become retirees, Medicare is going to be very different in terms of the funds it has. That Medicare trust fund is going broke.

So folks have been thinking about--Dr. DesJarlais in particular mentioned it, I think--and may have heard three letters, SGR, about the doc fix. What is that? What does that mean?

When patients go to visit their doctors and when they receive Medicare, as Dr. Fleming was saying, our Medicare patients have a certain fee schedule that we are obligated to follow. In a lot of cases, depending on their insurance and other factors, that fee schedule is far less than the fee schedule that is set up for our other patients. So Medicare pays doctors and other providers, and it generally pays less than other programs do. We accept that when we participate in the Medicare program, but to provide Medicare in the United States is very expensive. We have staff that we have to pay. We have overhead. Everybody who has a business--and I had my own practice, a small business--has rent and supplies and staff and insurance to pay.

One of the unique aspects of America in terms of our medical care is that we do have what's called a ``liability system,'' which is very costly, to cover lawsuits for malpractice. We should, indeed, do everything we can to prevent malpractice, but lawsuits in this country are very expensive.

Absolutely.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Ruth Argo Mazzei of Southeast, New York for her service as Town Clerk for the past 20 years.

Mrs. Mazzei was first elected to serve the people of Southeast as Town Clerk in November of 1991. Certified as both an International Municipal Clerk and New York State Registered Municipal Clerk, Mrs. Mazzei has served the residents of Southeast with honor and integrity. She is known for her love of her community and her loyalty to friends and family. Mrs. Mazzei and her husband of 44 years, Joseph Mazzei, have four sons: T.J., Christopher, Michael, and Robert.

Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to recognize the Honorable Ruth Argo Mazzei. As the face of Southeast Town Government and Town Hall for over two decades, the residents of Southeast and New York's Nineteenth Congressional District are fortunate to have benefited from her service.

Mr. Speaker, last week a constituent from Washingtonville, New York, wrote this to me:

``I balance my family budget, so please explain to me why we don't have the will to balance the Federal budget? Pass a balanced budget amendment and future generations will be far better off. If not, we will have left them our errors.''

Another one of my constituents--his first name is Joseph--and Joseph, I want to assure you that I agree with you completely. These are my sons. This is my family. These are Will and Jack. Together, as our distinguished colleague from Texas just told us, they owe nearly $100,000 to the national debt as of today. They had no part at all in creating it.

Every dollar that the Federal Government spends has 40 cents in debt. That is unconscionable intergenerational theft. It must stop, and we must stop it this week. I urge all of our colleagues across the aisle to pass the balanced budget amendment.

Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Paul J. Eldridge for his service as County Executive for Putnam County.

Mr. Eldridge was appointed by the Putnam County Legislature in November 2010 to serve until a special election could be held to fill the position. Mr. Eldridge confirmed the wisdom of his selection, serving with honor and distinction during a difficult period. His service as County Executive was the culmination of 33 years as a public servant for Putnam County, during which Mr. Eldridge has received numerous awards and honors for his work.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to recognize the Honorable Paul J. Eldridge. New York's Nineteenth Congressional District, and the entire Hudson Valley, is fortunate to have benefited from his service.

Mr. Speaker, in response to the President's jobs plan, Linda Shevchuk from Carmel, New York, in my own 19th district, sent the following letter to me: ``The government's first priority should be to make sure that existing programs and agencies are operating efficiently and effectively. I can't fathom how the President can ask for more revenue when there is so much waste in our government. Government needs to act more like a business. In order to succeed, a business has to operate efficiently and effectively, be innovative, set a reasonable budget, and operate within that budget.''

Ms. Shevchuk, you're absolutely right. In fact, on our list of the forgotten 15 bills that we need the Senate to act on right away, there is the budget for fiscal year 2012. It has now been 918 days since the American people received a budget for the Federal Government because our Senate has not yet acted.

Please call your Senators across the country--and, Ms. Shevchuk, call our Senators from New York--and ask them to act on the forgotten 15, including the budget for fiscal year 2012, so that we can free our economy, free our hardworking American taxpayers, and get us all back to work.

Thank you, mister whip.

Last week, I had the privilege of coming to the floor and sharing a letter from one of our constituents in the 19th Congressional District of New York, Mr. Paul Manahan from Mahopac, New York. This is what he wrote:

``We don't need or want more government spending. Cut regulations; cut taxes; repeal the 2010 health care law and let business do what it does best--create jobs based upon demand, not government dictates, spending, and attempts at market manipulation.''

Today, in this bill, the Access to Capital for Job Creators Act, H.R. 2940, we are taking yet another step toward implementing this kind of advice from a commonsense American.

Small businesses, as many of us have already mentioned, they really are the job creators and the key to a healthy and strong economy. Our number one priority in this Congress is to ensure that the regulatory environment for small businesses supports capital formation, investment, and job creation. This bill does exactly that, furthering job creation by eliminating unnecessary regulations.

The Access to Capital for Job Creators Act creates jobs by eliminating a prohibition on solicitation that is a barrier to capital formation and job creation. And regulations that are unnecessary in this case are being eliminated because investors under regulation D have to be sophisticated and accredited.

So there is the common sense. This is a win all the way around.

I'm very proud to cosponsor this important piece of legislation, and I am so glad to join colleagues on both sides of the aisle supporting this bill.

I want to make mention of the fact that this bill now joins 15 other bills that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans. They are listed on a card that we're carrying with us and that you've probably seen quite a bit. I want the Senate to know that this support from both sides indicates how strongly we are committed to creating jobs; and our Nation cannot wait for the Senate to hold yet this one hostage as well, so I urge its swift passage.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to add to my colleague's comments by noting that shareholders in major public corporations, major issuers of public stock have said over and over again that they do not find that the amount of capital that would have to be devoted, the amount of resources that would have to be devoted to unusual disclosures about executive compensation beyond what the SEC rules already require prior to Dodd-Frank actually make any difference to their decisions about investing at all. So you can certainly expect that accredited investors who are sophisticated will not need this kind of additional burden to be placed on companies that clearly they want to see thrive and grow with the precious capital that they have.

Mr. Speaker, last month Paul Manahan from Mahopac, New York, sent the following letter to me:

``We don't need or want more government spending. Cut regulation, cut taxes, repeal the 2010 health care law, and let business do what it does best: Create jobs based upon demand, not government dictates, spending, and attempts at market manipulation.''

Well, Mr. Manahan, you're absolutely right and, in fact, our House majority has passed at least 15 bills that now lie dormant in our Senate because the Senate refuses to take action on what would actually create American jobs, lift regulations, create new environments and new opportunities.

We are working nonstop in the House majority for all of our American citizens and you, Mr. Manahan, to make sure that you have the opportunity that you deserve and the prosperity that you need.

Please urge your Senator and all senators across the country to free those 15 bills and get this economy going.

Madam Speaker, on September 14, 2011, this year, Mark Prosachik from Hopewell Junction, New York, sent the following letter to me, and I quote:

``Dear Congresswoman Hayworth, I have been unemployed for over 18 months and my unemployment insurance ran out, reducing my eligibility for extended benefits. You would think I would be fuming mad . . . and demanding the government make companies hire me. But, no. Instead I'm against President Obama's jobs bill. It is guaranteed to add to the country's bloated debt. It will require taxes to be raised. It will waste money training people when there are many with the skills who are unemployed.''

Mr. Prosachik, I think you're absolutely right. Spending more of your hard-earned dollars or anybody's else's on projects like Solyndra or other efforts that unfortunately have not grown our economy will not work. I commend the Senate for rejecting a jobs bill that was a job- killing bill.

We in the House majority have passed bills throughout this year, joined often by our Democratic colleagues, that will grow jobs, that will revive our economy. I urge all of our colleagues in the Senate to pass that agenda immediately.