Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize three outstanding young people from Florida's Second Congressional District who will be continuing their education serving our country next year at the Naval Academy and at West Point.

Sean Moriarty and Zachary Moser will be attending the United States Naval Academy. Sean plays football at Arnold High School, and Zac is on the swim team at Rutherford High School.

Shane Ferry will be attending the United States Military Academy, West Point. He attends Mosley High School and is a member of the wrestling team.

The bar is high and the competition is stiff to earn entry into our service academies, and it should be. I am confident that each of these young men possess the character, ability, and determination to excel at Annapolis and West Point and to earn the privilege to do extraordinary things for our Nation and for those who they will one day command.

As they join their Federal fellow cadets and midshipmen, they also have our support and our gratitude for choosing this life of service.

Thank you and good luck.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to repeal ObamaCare by supporting the American Health Care Act. We are here to take health care back from the bureaucrats and give it to the people.

The previous administration enacted ObamaCare, and we saw its effects: higher premiums, less choice, lost coverage, and broken promises. The deductibles are so high it is like not having insurance at all.

The people who sent me to Congress sent me with strict orders: End this law. And on the American Health Care Act, I can report, it does.

With this bill, the Federal Government no longer forces you to buy a product you can't use and don't want. The individual mandate is gone, so is the job-killing employer mandate. Gone are a host of taxes on prescription meds, over-the-counter drugs, insurance premiums, and lifesaving medical devices.

It ends ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion, and it puts Medicaid on a budget and focuses State efforts on those people truly in need. This is the biggest entitlement reform in a generation.

Of course the bill is not perfect. There is more to do. But I spent 30 years as a surgeon. In medicine, as in life, you do not get to choose the perfect option. You learn not to make perfect the enemy of great.

With this vote we decide whether ObamaCare is our healthcare future or not. We can live with its failures and broken promises or create a market-based system that actually lowers the cost of health care and serves patients, not bureaucrats.

So I support the American Health Care Act, Mr. Speaker, and I urge that all Members do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Alabama, for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1101, the Small Business Health Fairness Act.

As a surgeon in north Florida, I witnessed, firsthand, the disaster that is ObamaCare. After ObamaCare was passed and implemented, small medical practices across the country were faced with new, crippling regulations that threatened their very existence.

I ran a small urology practice in Panama City and faced the very devastation that these new regulations on small business imposed. Thankfully, I was able to work with several other small practices to create the Advanced Urology Institute, a 45-physician practice with over 400 employees and offices throughout north Florida. Cooperation and pooling of our resources allowed our practice to reduce costs and to better serve our patients.

My experience underscores why the Small Business Health Fairness Act is so crucial. The Small Business Health Fairness Act allows small businesses to operate under the same principle when purchasing health insurance for their employees.

By joining together across State lines through associations, small businesses can achieve the economies of scale enjoyed by big businesses and unions when purchasing health care. It will empower small businesses to purchase better plans at a lower cost, which means working families can get the care they need at a price they can afford.

It is time to put small business employees on a level playing field with those of large businesses and those in unions. The health insurance market and this bill does just that.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 1259, the VA Accountability First Act of 2017.

President Lincoln reminds us of our duty ``to care for him who shall have borne the battle,'' and, frankly, our government has done a miserable job of it.

While a large number of VA employees honorably serve our veterans, that is not always the case. In the real world, if you don't do your job, you get fired. Yet we have employees at the VA who are guilty of gross misconduct, even major felonies, and they are still on the job.

``Why is this?'' you ask. Because the process to fire them is too arduous. The VA system that lives up to our veterans' sacrifices starts with personnel. The VA Accountability First Act is a great first step in addressing poor performance and misconduct at the VA. It will allow Secretary Shulkin to make substantive changes as he works to improve veterans' care.

We need to make the VA work for our veterans instead of our bureaucrats.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor George ``Boogie'' Cochran, Jr., who passed away peacefully at the age of 89 on March 1.

Mr. Speaker, Chief Cochran lived a life in full, one of family and of service.

As a 17-year-old Leon High School student, he enlisted in the Navy in 1944. He served bravely aboard Navy destroyers in the Pacific campaigns. He participated in America's nuclear weapons testing after the war, and in the action surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis.

In 1963, in recognition of his dedicated and courageous service in the Navy, Chief Cochran was awarded the first annual Commander Ernest Evans Memorial Award aboard the USS Johnston.

He loved his family, his country, and his community. He represents the best of America.

Boogie, you will be missed by many, and may you rest in peace.

Madam Speaker, when I ran for Congress, I made a promise to hang my family's Revolutionary War musket in my office as a steadfast reminder of the reason I am here in Washington: to support and defend the Constitution and to honor those who have fought for the Constitution and those who continue to fight for our freedom. We must never forget how precious our constitutional rights are, and the right to bear arms is one of the most important because that right ensures our ability to defend all of our rights.

As a veteran of the United States Army and as a life member of the NRA, I will fight in Congress to defend our right to bear arms. It is a special honor to represent the great people of the Second District of Florida and to fight for their conservative values in Congress.

``If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it shall not be a law.''