Floor Statements

I thank the gentlewoman from California for the opportunity.

You know, when I listen to the discussion on this floor, when I hear my friends from the other side of the aisle talk about the great plan that they have put forth, I think I need to share with the American public that their plan means 50 million Americans will go without health care coverage. I think that's an important distinction here.

And also when we talk about their plan, to me it translates to higher costs, it translates to reduced consumer protections, and it also speaks to no regulations on an industry that has had record profit columns over the last couple of years.

So I think our bill states very emphatically that we're about changing the course of direction. We're about putting individuals, families, doctors, in control of the health care outcome--not government, not insurance companies. So this effort to empower the insurance companies is not the solution America is looking for. It is not the solution.

They are looking for a thoughtful, academic approach. The Democrats in this House have put forward a sound plan. The Speaker, to her credit, has taken the input from the Members of this majority and advanced them to the United States Senate and to the White House, and we have been able to achieve, on behalf of the people of this great country, situations that allow us to control those skyrocketing costs to make certain that, again, our families, our individuals, our doctors, are making those decisions and not the greed of insurance companies.

We want to make certain that as we go through this effort that we provide assistance to those who are struggling in this economy. In fact, in my district, I can look at a family with an average annual income of $50,000 and state to them that with this measure, they will realize a $5,800 benefit, a tax credit, to help them afford their health care costs. That is monumentally important to that family.

It also speaks to the ``whose side we're on.'' When a person comes to a situation, a catastrophic situation in their life, they need to know that they have access and affordability and quality care that is their option.

So when someone with acne is asking to be insured, our House, our majority, says yes, you should be insured. The other side says ``no.'' When someone says that our health care costs are driving bankruptcy for American families, when we say there should be a cap on out-of-pocket expenditures, our side says ``yes,'' their side says ``no.'' When we speak to gender discrimination on the rating of premiums for women, especially in childbearing years, our side with a very sensitive concern says ``yes'' to giving them more fairness in the equation. The other side says ``no.''

So it continues to go on and on, and the American public needs to know that what this debate is about is providing control to the American families, the working families of this country, enabling them not to be put into bankruptcy because of catastrophic illness, enabling them to have access to health care coverage, enabling them to be strengthened by Medicare improvements where their pharmaceutical needs will be met if they're Medicare eligible, where the Medicare trust fund is stabilized. That's what this measure does.

And let me finally close with the impact on small business. We ask our small business to be that response team to drive us out of the economic woes.

This President, this Congress inherited devastating deficits from the previous administration. And so it's important for us to rebuild the economy. Many, myself included, profess that small business is the backbone of our economy, is the springboard to economic recovery. Well, we're dulling the competitive edge simply with health care costs that are crippling to our small business community.

So we need improvements with the exchanges that are developed with this proposal. They are then enabled, as individuals or small businesses, to enter into an exchange. Think of it. A small business of 5 or 10 employees can be crippled by catastrophic situations. Their premiums could rise exponentially simply because of 1 of 5 or 1 of 10 employees being impacted severely by a health situation. By entering into a pool, into an exchange, that is diluted a great deal. The ebbs and flows are neutralized. And so the impact is a favorable one for our small business community. They realize the benefits of a sounder, more modest premium because they're into an exchange. So there are many improvements.

But it's about greed. We say ``no'' to greed. Others say ``yes.'' It's about fairness. We say ``yes'' to fairness. Others say ``no.'' It's about strengthening that Medicare. We say ``yes.'' Others say ``no.''

I am proud to stand here this afternoon on this House floor to say that by working with my colleagues, with the leadership, verbalizing the strength of our ideas and our passion to make a difference. We have a very sound bill before us.

Let's deal with fact, not fiction. Let's insert ourselves with a sense of compassion for all people in this country. This is a historic moment waiting to happen here on this Hill in Washington, and I am proud to serve in this House and to have had the response that we have had.

Thank you, Representative Speier, for the opportunity to join you this afternoon.

Madam Speaker, I think it is so important for us to move forward and not be derailed in our efforts to reform what is important policy in this country. Health care, obviously, is something that needs to be provided in terms of insurance to our working families out there. We know the impact of delay and the impact of no reforms. Status quo simply does not cut it. We cannot afford to allow our families to continue with such gross injustice.

Obviously, the increase projected, $1,800 per year for family plans, is a train wreck waiting to happen. Today the average of some $13,000 for family plans would grow in the next decade to some $31,000. Which small business out there could afford to pay that or even a fraction of that for its employees?

We know that what we're trying to maintain here is an employee-based health care insurance system. Well, the employer-based system needs some sort of relief. We need to know that there are assurances for containing those costs, for making certain that into the future we'll have a safety net for our working families and for our business community. In the measure we're advancing there is assistance for small businesses. It's providing them the opportunity to make this sharing affordable.

We know that the benefits that come with reducing the deficit with our bill, having been scored by CBO, is looking at $130 billion for the first 10 years and some $1.2 trillion into the next 10 years. This is progress. This is a step in the right direction.

We also know of the reforms where those who are denied, for whatever bias--for gender, for preexisting conditions, for acne, almost a laughable concept, but used to deny people. Toddlers who are denied because of overweight, individuals who have perhaps been violated, sexually violated, or domestic violence, have been denied. These reforms are essential, and let's do them now.

Mr. Speaker, this week we are closer than we have ever been to passing real, comprehensive health insurance reform for the American people.

Reform is simple. It gives consumers, working families, and small businesses more control and forces insurance companies to do what is right. With respect to Medicare, it extends the life of the Medicare trust fund and improves benefits for our seniors, including improving the prescription drug benefit.

My friends on the other side of the aisle are not interested in passing real reform for the American people. They want to maintain the status quo in which we see health care spending growing exponentially, more and more families losing coverage, and health insurance companies continuing to raise rates free of any restrictions. And they are okay with allowing tens of millions of taxpaying, hardworking Americans to go on without needed health insurance, the same coverage they enjoy as Members of Congress.

They also want to eliminate Medicare as we know it today. They want to privatize Medicare and give seniors a coupon to go out and shop for private insurance plans from the same companies that have been raising rates and dropping customers.

Health insurance reform is not just about insuring the uninsured. It's about also protecting and improving Medicare. Mr. Speaker, I encourage these reforms.

Madam Speaker, we have been talking about health care reform for nearly a century, and certainly inaction is no longer acceptable. The American people voted for and demand reform. They deserve our support.

Health insurance reform is about cost. These reforms slow the growth of health care spending and make health care insurance more affordable for everyone while reducing our deficit.

Health insurance reform is about coverage. These reforms will cover nearly all Americans, including those with preexisting conditions, and will not drop you if you get sick.

Health insurance reform is about competition. It repeals antitrust exemptions for insurance companies and brings them into a regulated marketplace to bring down prices for families and small businesses.

Health insurance reform is about care. These reforms eliminate copays for yearly checkups and screenings and ensure that our seniors have access to prescription drugs that they can actually afford.

Health insurance reform returns control to mothers, to fathers, to grandparents, and families, where it belongs, not with insurance companies, not with government.

Thank you for bringing us together this evening for this discussion on the small business agenda here in Washington.

Obviously, as has been stated so many times during this session of Congress, the number one priority is jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs. We cannot overemphasize the impact that job creation, job retention bears on the discussions that we have here in restoring this Nation's economy.

And you make a very valid point in assessing the very deep loss of jobs that we experienced at the beginning of this administration. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 to 750,000 jobs lost per month in the last 3 or 4 months before the Obama administration began its work here in Washington. That was a tremendous loss to this Nation's economy. Millions upon millions, 7 to 8 million jobs lost during this recession. A very painful blow to the American economy and certainly to the American households across this Nation.

And as we look forward to progress to inspire us, it is good to note that while it's not good enough, some 200,000 to 300,000 jobs lost in the last few months is a vastly improved outcome, a long way to go, but moving in the right direction. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enabled us to place down payments in small business production and creation and retention. Certainly those efforts are coming in cutting- edge fashion where we're now addressing job growth in a way that speaks to research and development, allowing us to spark an innovation economy that enables us to respond in very valid terms by embracing our intellectual capacity as a Nation.

These are the source of efforts that require our investment. And I am so impressed that we can move forward now with many issues that were back-burnered.

When we look at the need to produce here locally in this country, to produce nationally for our energy needs, nothing could be smarter than to move forward with a clean energy economy, to be able to draw down that gluttonous dependency on fossil-based fuels that has fed this system, that has enabled us in a way to continue to add to that carbon footprint. And we're putting hundreds of billions of dollars per year

into the treasuries of unfriendly nations to the United States and our allies across the globe. That is not smart government. That is enabling us to continue along the course of status quo where we don't exercise the options available to us.

I look within my district. I look within the region that I represent and beyond in upstate New York, and there are such great things happening in nanoscience, in semiconductors, in superconductivity cable, in renewables, that we are now cultivating this climate that enables us to respond to a clean energy economy. It's growing our energy independence. It's growing our energy security, and therefore, favorably addressing our national security, because as we conduct these sorts of experiments and grow opportunities in the energy world, we are giving birth to wonderful startups, to entrepreneurs, and that is the spirit that is uniquely American, as you suggested.

So I'm very, very enthused about where we're heading. I believe that as we have stopped the bleeding of this recession, we now go forward with the toolkit that will enable our small business community to respond in fullest fashion where we embrace the intellect of this Nation and allow us again to taste that sense of pioneerism that is really, I think, the flame that really sparks America's comeback.

Thank you, Representative Dahlkemper. And it is a pleasure to hear both Congressmen from Michigan and California and you as a Representative from Pennsylvania all speaking the voice of the freshman class. I'm so enthused to work with all of us as freshman Members of this Congress. We have brought, I believe, a lot of thought, a lot of energy, a lot of vision; and we are attaching it to the leadership of this House, which is broken from some of the failed attempts from the prior administration.

The entire focus on manufacturing through the MEP program was denied. There wasn't a respect shown, I believe, strong enough toward the manufacturing sector. And the American manufacturing sector is alive. It will be competitive on the global scene because it can do it smarter, and the investment of that intellectual capacity of this Nation gives us great promise with the manufacturing sector.

So to hear of all these ideas, from tax benefits that will go toward creating small business opportunities, to dealing with the credit crunch, making certain that we raise the loan opportunities to allow for the working capital needs to be met for our small business community, those are important aspects. Those are great factors.

H.R. 4598, which you are sponsoring, Congresswoman, is tremendous benefit to the opportunities to invest in small business, and they are the backbone of this American economy.

To the gentleman from California, when he spoke of health care, I talked to a number of small businesses that might have five, 10, 15 employees. And when they are insuring their employees for health care purposes, they are looking over a rather small base. And the bill that we are looking at before the House allows for an exchange to be developed where there is a large pool of employees, where there is going to be a regulatory environment to hold down those costs. And beyond that, if you have one employee of five or 10 impacted with catastrophic illness, you're probably going to see rate increases in your insurance rise exponentially. When you put them into a larger sea of employees, by operating through these exchanges, that's the kind of reform that is responding to the needs of small business.

We talked about it today in my office. People understand that concept. You put people's situations into a large audience, and it neutralizes the outcome in a way that spreads the pain and allows small business to continue to provide for their employees, which they want to do. We have decided in this country we are going to stay with an employer-based health care system. So let's provide the reforms that allow small business to have the benefit in that outcome. If we profess small business to be the vision of the future, to be the job growth market, certainly we have seen it in the last decade or two, 75 to 85 percent of all the new jobs created are coming through small business.

So let's be there in a user-friendly way that allows them to provide for their employees so that they have a healthy and strong workforce so that we can put together both the physical health care, mental health care concepts that will enable them to prosper, put together the funding opportunities dealing with that credit crunch. We saw what happened. The banks were not regulated. We saw the institutions out there collapse. It killed the American economy and the global economy. And the credit lines were dried up. They were exhausted for households and businesses. That is not good.

So now it is our challenge as Democrats to respond; and, I think, in many dimensions we are responding. We are going to open those credit lines. We are going to provide for that capital need to be met for the business community. We are responding. And people need to know that it's a full agenda from a jobs package to health care reform to energy reform, which is growing a clean energy economy, an innovation economy. These are the concepts that are going to provide the change that was long overdue and utilize the American know-how, the great pioneer spirit.

I represent a host of communities, a necklace as I like to refer to it, of mill towns. They were the epicenters of invention and innovation. That spirit still prevails in this country today. And we need to foster that kind of growth. We need to grow out of this recession, now that we have stopped the bleeding, and build this economy the way we envision it to be the most powerful, with small business at the front and center of that.

Representative Dahlkemper, you know, you and our colleague from Florida sparked a thought as you were both talking about innovation and small business creation.

To the credit of the leadership in the House--and I have to credit Speaker Pelosi for really advancing the innovation economy. She believes in that investment. She understands that jobs are the greatest issue that are out there challenging this country in terms of providing the support that is required.

This Monday before I traveled here to the Nation's capital, while still in my district, I was invited to attend the 10th anniversary celebration of SuperPower, which is now producing all sorts of demonstrations in the high-temperature superconductive cable market.

As we talk about this energy system in our country, as we talk about creating our own American-produced supplies of power, we also need to remember there is a delivery system that needs our investment. The transmission and distribution system, the arteries and veins of the network, if you will, has been designed for monopoly settings. And as we have deregged in this industry, we now find that this country is not only wielding electrons from region to region but across State borders, across country borders as we look at importing power supplies from Canada.

So all that being said, the August 2003 failure that impacted the northeast of the United States, the eastern seacoast, States along the eastern seaboard, southeast Canada, millions, tens of millions of people in a blackout situation for days, if that didn't expose a gaping vulnerability of a weakness in this Nation, I don't know what would. So we need to invest in that delivery system. That is critical.

SuperPower, celebrating its 10th anniversary, is there producing high-temperature superconductive cable far more efficient than conventional cable where multiple times more electrons can be transmitted along the line.

As we look at the agenda in this country, there is no room for waste. I talked earlier about the gluttonous dependency on fossil-based fuels. If we can improve efficiencywise, we are going to be all the sounder as a Nation. So these great researchers and scientists are developing this cable.

They had in their display, at the Schenectady Museum for their 10th anniversary celebration, a piece of the cable that was used as a demonstration project in the city of Albany, New York, which proved successful. Now the work is to further develop so that we can commercialize this discovery and that we can drive down the cost so that it is truly an economic benefit. That is where R&D comes into play. It is all of that investment.

I truly believe that we, as a country, when investing in these efforts, create jobs from the trades on over to the Ph.D.'s. And when I looked at that, I realized that, here we have been investing. I was there at the front end of investment when we put down a bit of investment for capital purchases, for equipment for this startup. Now, 10 years later, they are doing great work. They are breaking their own records and are being recognized nationally and internationally.

So that has inspired me, along with conversations with small business innovators, entrepreneurs that are doing the same sort of signs and discovery that will change our response and responsiveness to a number of challenges out there.

I have introduced a bill that deals with the small business innovators. They are oftentimes in situations, scenarios that are high risk but high reward. And the angel network and the venture capital community even in this tough economy, especially in this tough economy, is somewhat skittish about going out there, lending to them on their own.

So government has a role here to soften that blow in those high-risk but high-reward situations. My bill would take the 2007-2008 success stories with the Department of Energy, where phase one and phase two investments have been made. Investments in prototyping. You develop an idea, you bring an idea to the table, you convince DOE it's a good project, and you develop that prototype. And then you test it. And there are many success stories where they have built the prototype and it met the test. But then we don't do the next and final stage, the third stage, which is invest to deploy it to commercialization. My measure would take those 2007-2008 success stories and--standing as inspiration is SuperPower. Ten years into it, they're breaking their own records. They're getting into demonstrations that have now been proven successful. We need to continue to invest. Now is not the time to walk away from that system. We need to invest in it. Certainly, we have potential that is limitless, and we need to go forward, and it responds to those present-day and future needs of this Nation and does it in magnanimous measure that produces jobs in every element, every sector of the workforce.

So these are the great investments. Just like we're investing in community colleges--where we'll have before us in the near future measures to invest in community colleges. One of my local community colleges is investing in clean room science technology. So that as we develop these ``clean'' rooms with the nanoscience industry with chips that are manufactured, they can then be coupled with everything from agriculture as an industry to the pharmaceutical industry to health care to energy. There's great potential there. And these are partnerships that need to be fostered by the government. This is a role where the government can produce jobs, because they're removing some of the risk, and they're there because all society benefits from these opportunities. They're great bits of discovery.

And to SuperPower, I publicly want to thank them for 10 years of a success story. And I know they're going to go on to even greater things where we can apply this into high-efficiency situations. Think of it. As we begin to grow our renewables out there with solar arrays, with solar farms, with wind farms, we are then able to take direct current cable, where there's a hundred percent efficiency, no line loss. So as you're taking that generated energy, American-produced energy, you're now making certain there's no loss of that product in its delivery mode. And we're all prospering from that.

These are the opportunities we're talking about. They were put on the

back burner. MEP was told, You don't need to be funded any more. Manufacturing doesn't need our attention. Nothing could be further from the truth. We need to invest in these industries. And we can do it because we have the know-how. We invest through higher education, we invest through apprenticeships with our trade unions. We do all of this investing, but then we need to provide the hope. And the hope comes in a job--in a business that's produced that translates into jobs.

Let's do it. Let's do it in a progressive, visionary way that enables all of us to prosper. And I'm so impressed that the Democrats are putting together a strategic plan that ranges from health care reform to job creation to incentives and tax relief and credit line opening, dealing with that credit crunch and putting together the workforce training. These are the elements. These are the tools in the toolkit that will take us to a new era of job creation--some jobs not yet on the radar screen. That's the remarkable bit of visioning here, of public policy development and resources that are put together in the budget.

So I can't thank you enough for the small business passion that you bring to this House, Representative Dahlkemper. Your track record as a small business person is that inspiration for you to then influence us in putting together packages that allow us to provide that opportunity from coast-to-coast for this great country.

Representative Dahlkemper, I know that you've brought students to town. They've come from Pennsylvania from your district to visit. Today, I greeted students from Brown School in Schenectady, and as luck would have it, they came across the Speaker. The Speaker had seen them in Statuary Hall, where all of these great figures remind us of leaders of this great country in our formative years, in our beginning years, where they spoke to a vision for the future. They are now those heroes that developed a strong sense of our past.

As she shared her thoughts with the students, she said to these eighth-graders, These are the giants that led us to today, but you're talking to Representatives here that are going to do the same thing. They're going to take us into the future. And the students understood. They understood that what we're doing here today is developing opportunity for them in a career path, in an education curve that will take them to higher ground and in job creation that will be there for them.

That is the challenge to each and every one of us as legislators--not to walk away from the crisis. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste. We have an opportunity here to take an economy that crumbled because of the lack of regulatory aspects, the lack of stewardship, the lack of watchdogs that could have kept it into working order. As that collapsed, this President offered a Recovery Act, and it stopped the bleeding. Now the awesome task is to build the economy we believe is strongest, that will be most responsive to the needs of this Nation. And when we look at it the investment in technology from health care, with all sorts of record-keeping done with technology, to education, wiring--hardwiring our communities with broadband and communications, creating opportunities, and energy generation and energy transmission, smart grids, smart metering--all of these opportunities that were denied are now front and center.

And so it's been a pleasure to join with you this evening to talk about not only growing out of this recession with soundness, but developing small business. Jobs, jobs, and hope for America's people. Thank you so much for your leadership. It's a great freshman class and I'm proud to be a part of it.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 102, I was detained with legislative business. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

I thank the gentleman from California for his leadership on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4247, the Keeping All Students Safe Act. This bill is aimed at restricting some of the most abusive practices still employed in certain schools around the country: negligent restraint and abusive seclusion.

Last spring, the Education and Labor Committee heard testimony from the Government Accountability Office, which investigated the use of these practices in schools. What the GAO found was stunning. There were many instances of serious injury and abuse and even some accounts of death. Even more troubling to me, as a strong supporter of disability rights in special education, was that many of the victims were students with intellectual disabilities.

This bill is meant to protect our most vulnerable students against the worst kinds of abuse. The committee heard about a 4-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and autism who was restrained in the chair with leather straps for being uncooperative at school. The girl suffered bruises and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In another instance, five children, ages 5, 6 and 7, were gagged and duct taped for misbehaving in another school. At a school in my State of New York, a 9-year-old child with a learning disability was put in a time-out room for hours on end for whistling, slouching and hand waving. The child's hands became blistered when he tried repeatedly to escape the room described as smelling of urine. Finally, the committee heard the case of a 14-year-old boy who, because he did not stay seated in class, was restrained by his teacher. The 230-pound teacher put the boy face-down on the floor and lay on top, restricting his breathing and ultimately suffocating him. At the time the committee heard this testimony, the teacher was still teaching in the suburbs of Washington,

Mr. Speaker, in January of 2009, the United States economy had lost more than 750,000 jobs in just 1 month. A year later, in January 2010, the United States economy gained a few thousand jobs. This remarkable shift in the economy's performance is mainly due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed by this Congress and signed by our President.

In one year, the Recovery Act has provided $120 billion in tax cuts for 95 percent of working families as well as businesses across this country; loaned nearly $20 billion to small businesses to expand and create jobs; funded more than 12,500 transportation projects Nationwide and kept teachers, police officers, and firefighters working on the job.

Now we are seeing growth in our economy. On February 20, 2009, the Dow Jones was trading at 7,365. Yesterday, the market closed at 10,383.

The Recovery Act has worked and will continue to work throughout the course of this year. After all, it was designed to be a 2-year program.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Thank you, Representative Markey.

It is so important for us to underscore the value of competition that drives the American economy. We've seen it in so many industries and where competition provides choice for consumers. I think it's very interesting to note that over the last decade, as average households have stayed flatlined and as insurance premium costs have more than doubled, the consumers have had no choice in some situations. They have had to tolerate price fixing or insurance groups dividing up territories amongst themselves or certainly just subterfuging any of their competition out there.

I think that it's time for us to make certain that there is the competition. Certainly by moving with this reform to McCarran-Ferguson, we now can hope for a better day for America's insured. It is so important for us to make certain that this 65-year-old prohibition is undone. And as Representative Perriello said, this costs government nothing. It is the sort of reform that I believe can drive wonderful benefits for the people of this country as they have looked at these exorbitant prices where we've seen huge increases, where there's a need for a stronger bed of oversight, of regulation, making certain that the double-digit percentage increases are not tolerated, are not just rubber-stamped in a way that really engages the price fixing, that engages the efforts out there of greed that with that monopoly power have enabled them to really sock it to our health care consumers. We need reforms. We need them now. And I think this is a wonderful effort.

I want to applaud Representative Perriello and you, Representative Markey, for putting forth this initiative. I think it's going to be something that meets with success in this Chamber, and then we're hopeful that we can continue to march forward for that progress to be struck.

Representative Perriello, you know, I earlier heard Representative Markey speaking of the 400 mergers, and you talked about that resulting in 95 percent of the markets being concentrated. That simply states, no choice, no choice for the consumer. That means a runaway with costs that are going to be so inflated.

When you look at some of the stats out there, the large five, the big five insurance companies, you know, we look at that profit column, at some $12-plus billion, a 56 percent increase from calendar year 2008 to 2009. $12-plus billion. You know, those are benefits that could be shared.

As you said, you know, we understand it's a capitalist society. There are efforts out there, obviously, to be productive and be profitable. But 12 billion, a 56 percent growth, when average household incomes are flatlined, is very difficult to absorb for our constituents, for consumers out there.

And then to even look at the track record over the last decade from 2000 to 2009, to know that 250 percent increase was the outcome for profits. The time is more than past.

And as all these commissions had indicated, the Association of Attorneys General, all speaking out in defense of this. It's no wonder everyone is promoting this reform.

And I, again, want to congratulate the two of you for putting this measure out there, bringing it to the floor so that we can now make a statement, in a bipartisan fashion. We hope that tomorrow when this vote is taken there will be this effort to speak in defense of consumers who have taken it on the chin. These profit margins are cutting away at their own doability as a household. We can stretch that household budget by reducing those insurance premium costs, and that's what this effort is about: Accountability, affordability, accessibility, quality of care.

This is a major cornerstone of reform that is outside that package that we have been trying to assemble, but this is something we can do immediately, and as has been stated so many times over, without any cost to government. So this is a win for the consuming public out there. And they deserve this sort of effort because they've gone far too long where this injustice has been allowed to occur time and time again because of that exemption for an industry, when all other industries out there are covered by the forces of the antitrust legislation from McCarran-Ferguson's Act of 65 years ago. So it's time for change. It's time for reform, and I believe this brings balance to the equation and is the rightful thing to do.

This dynamic of competition, as the gentleman from California makes mention, competition is what drives the benefit for the consumer. Competition is stymied by the fact in my home State of New York three companies, three insurers, have asked for or have sent dividends to corporate parents out of State that fell just shy of a billion dollars last year. Just three groups. Now, would they have the luxury to do this if they were pressured to compete, to hold on to their market? I don't think so.

This year, those same three companies are looking to send $1.2 billion outside of the State to corporate parents. This is the sort of action that takes hold where you're not encouraging anybody to compete to hold on to their market and we're exporting these billions of dollars. My State, I am certain, is not alone in that phenomenon, and it is hurting the consumers of New York State simply because there is this mass exodus of dividends that are being paid out to the corporate parent firm.

So you look at the record in New York and what has happened over a 10-year stretch from 1999 to 2009, and that amassed to some $5 billion worth. This is a pattern that is becoming more and more pronounced, that is again not putting pressure on the system to respond in competitive measure. And that dynamic being pulled out of the equation then causes hardship for the very people that we need to hold down costs for health care insurance; $1.2 billion requested this year from just three groups to send those dividends out of the State.

These are reports that are disturbing, these are the forces that are driving this thinking to bring about the reform that is introduced in the Perriello-Markey legislation.

Again, to our Representatives here who have thought in such progressive terms, I say ``thank you'' because this will be a major piece of reform that brings instant benefit, that induces competition into the process, and it doesn't cost government a dime.

I am very happy that this effort is being made in this House, and I applaud the sponsors. I applaud all who are working to make this happen

Thank you, Representative Perriello.

When we start talking about this competition, we wonder about the benefits that are so drastically needed because we see now that some companies are looking at charging a 39 percent increase for the premium; 39 percent. That is a gross, gross, difficult outcome for consumers in this country.

What is driving it? Well, yeah, there is lack of competition, but that lack of competition, that allows for a rather comfortable zone to increase CEO salaries. And when we look at the big five again, the largest insurers, the data shows that the CEOs were compensated up to $24 million in 2008. That is, I think, an outcome driven by a lack of competition. That pressure isn't there to respond, and so you just easily pass it over to the consumer. And without any sort of reform here, this will continue to grow.

I know that there had been many suggesting from studies that are very much respected that the average family plan will be increased by about $1,800 per year. Today, that is an average of $13,000, I believe, for a family plan. Well, in a short decade, we are just going to transpose those numbers, so 13 grows to 31. 31,000 is a train wreck waiting to happen. It is unsustainable. It is the sort of outcome we get when we don't take the bull by the horns and say, look, there is a simple reform. It is straightforward. It is basic. It calls for the all- American sense of competition, the all-American quality of competition, a good thing.

If you are a strong business, you welcome competition. It is good for the soul. It is good for the consumer. And so let's open this process to competition. Let's avoid some of these hefty increases in CEO salaries, or profit margins that are record breaking, and all sorts of insensitivities, gross insensitivities to the quality of care and the affordability of care for individuals and families out there.

The time has more than come. It is an important measure that we take before us tomorrow in this House. It will be a moment in history, I am convinced, so as to move forward and respond in compassionate measure, in reasonable terms, to bring those scales of justice back into a balance that speaks to a favorable outcome, a progressive path that we will follow.

Million.

The five largest insurers being compensated $24 million.

I think the special interests are so glaringly obvious, my colleagues; the fact that they can escape these Federal investigation and enforcement measures, measures of antitrust laws that make them subject to Federal prohibitions against bid rigging or price fixing or dividing up market territories.

These are tools in the tool kit that don't serve consumers well. And as if the escaping isn't egregious enough, they can then move to prejudice against by not insuring because of preexisting conditions. We have talked about some of those more easily recognized or imagined conditions--heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer--but it gets into the realm of the very loosely defined preexisting conditions--acne, domestic violence, overweight for toddlers, or what have you, obesity in toddlers. It is all set up in their favor. And I believe that there needs to be balance. And as Representative Perriello said, there are undeniably sound players, good, good behaviors out there that respond well. But for those who are taking advantage of this exemption that has allowed to continue for far too long, the time has come to put up the stop sign and say it's over, it's a new set of rules come your way.

And the Attorneys General of this country obviously know something, they see it front and center, they see it in cases that they have to defend for the people in their respective States. And so they're advising us, in bipartisan fashion, they are advising us that a better day can be had, and here is the opportunity. A simple vote--hopefully a bipartisan vote--on a very succinct measure, one easily understood. It is time to end a 65-year stretch of what is I think a special response to an industry.

We talk about the deep pockets, we talk about the special interests, we talk about the force that they have had on this process as an industry. Well, when I think about the recent Supreme Court decision to allow for open-spigot season and pour more dollars into the process to influence legislative outcomes, to have more pressure on the process, to perhaps deny progress, I get very worried about this measure hanging around for far too long. I think the time has more than passed to get this done. Let's get it done in the sort of way that acknowledges that we have tough work to do here. We have people hurting across this country, not being able to afford health care coverage, not being able to sustain what are these ever-spiraling increases for health care premiums. Let's do them the big, big benefit of changing this law and voting ``yes'' tomorrow in the activities that will take place in the House.

I know that we are coming close to the end of our hour. I just want to state that perhaps, if this unfairness were not being levied upon, thrust upon American families, maybe this moment of reform wouldn't be happening, but because there is that unfairness, the propensity to push for this reform has now reached a very solid height.

I think that, as we go forward, as we are waxing anecdotally, what comes to mind for me is a couple whom I know who was hit with a catastrophic illness--a husband and wife team. Their premiums increased by 37 percent over the course of 2 years, and they are left now with one wage earner in the family. Both had been working. As the wife of this couple was impacted by catastrophic illness, they are now left with one wage earner and with a pile of debt that is $18,000 worth of uncovered medical expenses.

So that's what this is about. That's what feeds the passion of this debate.

I have to commend the leadership of this House. Speaker Pelosi has been vigilant about pushing the reforms, along with our respective Chairs from Education and Labor, from Ways and Means, from Energy and Commerce, and about really making it happen, about moving forward to make certain that the people's voices are heard here in this debate.

When we talk about some of the unfairness, about some of the imbalance in the outcomes, what about the medical loss ratio? Fewer and fewer premiums collected, percentage-wise, are returned to direct care for consumers. It was 95 percent a decade-and-a-half ago. Today, it's below 80 percent. So there is a reason for a number of these issues to come forward. There are a number of reforms to be advanced.

This bill, the Perriello-Markey bill, hopefully, will be approved tomorrow in a bipartisan vote. I am pleased to stand here in support of this measure. I want to thank all of my colleagues for the input that they are providing for this historic moment to happen.

I thank you very much.

Madam Speaker, I come to the floor today asking my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4425, which would rename the Lansingburgh Post Office located at 2-116th Street in North Troy to the Martin G. ``Marty'' Mahar Post Office.

A longtime resident of Troy, Marty Mahar's legacy was one defined by his unwavering commitment to public service. Returning home as both a celebrated and decorated World War II veteran, earning four Battle Stars, Marty's desire to stay active within veterans organizations led him to become a National Service Officer.

He was extremely effective at combining his military professionalism and consideration for his fellow soldiers with countless hours of information and counseling sessions to ensure that veterans experienced a smooth transition back into civilian life. Marty's commitment to serving his country led him to becoming both a life member of the VFW and Military Order of the Purple Heart as well as a Veterans Hall of Fame honoree in 2005.

Apart from the time spent with the military, Marty is also honored for his civic duties on the local and State levels. The desire to give back to his community was a hallmark of Marty's character. Such an attitude helped in his push to found the Troy Patriot's Pop Warner football league, the Uncle Sam Parade committee, the Troy Flag Day parade and more. He was president of the New York State Association of City Councils and a city councilman in Troy for a decade as well as serving as its mayor.

Marty was truly a public servant whose leadership and selflessness should be a model for us all. From his dedication in serving our country as a marine during World War II to his service in the Postal Service and our community, I am honored to take a lead role in renaming this post office in Marty's honor. I hope my colleagues will join me in honoring this extraordinary public servant by voting ``yes'' on H.R. 4425.

Madam Speaker, Representative Lynch has been a big help in making certain that we could move forward with a request from one of my local communities. Obviously, we honor, by renaming the post office at 116th Street in North Troy, the memory of Marty Mahar who served this country so well. Certainly he is a public servant who can be held up as a model for this Nation, one who has an outstanding track record of service to this Nation's military, taking and assisting the veterans as they return to our communities, working with them, having earned so much recognition and honor from his service to country. He was also just understood to be that voice for veterans who worked so steadfastly to make certain that they had a welcome home and that they were finding the services that were intended for them to be brought right to the doorstep.

Also, he has so many distinguished bids of service. He is honored for his civic duties, the sense that he cherished Troy and cherishes Troy at the local and State levels, recognized as president of the New York State Association of City Councils, having served as a city council member of Troy and then eventually as mayor.

All of these issues are why this recognition and the renaming of the post office is so worthy and so justified. He is a model for all. His dedication to this country and certainly his work servicing the Postal Service is just a sense of his love and devotion for Troy. The people of the community honor him in this very splendid fashion. They enable him to be held as that esteemed leader. And the work here done under H.R. 4425 is, I think, a very justified effort to rename the 116th Street post office in North Troy, which carries much pride to it--North Troy--the Martin G. ``Marty'' Mahar Post Office.

And I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts, Representative Lynch, again for the work done through the subcommittee and the committee to make this possible today. I would strongly encourage all of our colleagues to support H.R. 4425 with a resounding ``yes'' vote.

Mr. Chair, on rollcall No. 34 I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Amendment No. 3 Offered by Mr. Flake

Thank you, Representative Perriello, for bringing us together this evening for conversation and dialogue on what is an important part of the work we are doing right now. There can be no more important issue than jobs, job creation, job retention, and dealing with the Nation's economy.

I am glad that we are talking about a bit of a reality check this evening, too, to review history, what brought us here.

There is no mistaking that this administration and we in Congress this year have inherited, as freshmen, a very difficult task because some irresponsible behavior guided the decisionmaking; and where we found that we grew a deficit to record proportions, historically largest deficit, handed to this administration. That was just a year ago.

So when we look at some of the stats that the stimulus package was responsible for, minimally, 2 million jobs, looking at a number of projections and assessments that have been done out there, I think it is reassuring to know that we have been able to speak to that gross number of at least, minimally, 2 million jobs that came about through sound stewardship and through investment at a time when our recession was bleeding this economy. And all telltale indicators suggest that that bleeding has stopped. But we have only placed a down payment upon the economy with the stimulus package.

In the pipeline are tremendous investments to come, areas that deal with communications, with broadband, opportunities for our neighborhoods, for our communities dealing with transportation projects that are coming, with the smart grid, investment in smart meters, and all of the delivery system that brings the energy supplies to our doorstep, be it a workplace or a home place.

So these are sound investments, so much so that the news we received just recently last month about the third quarter showed 2.2 percent growth. That came about because of a change in thinking, a change of behavior. As witnessed over the last several months and years, we were dealing with what was a draining situation. In fact, I have to look at the fact that we provided within the stimulus package a middle class tax cut, largest in its nature, in its history. And what benefited our communities was that 95 percent of working families in this country realized the benefit that amounted to some $37 billion in tax relief that came through their paychecks during the calendar year of 2009. That was important work. That was a way to help stretch the budgets for our American households.

Contrast that with the fact that tax cuts under the Bush administration were provided by borrowing from China. Now, isn't it interesting that China was made strong with our kind of irresponsible behavior. We look now at the fact that China's clean energy budget surpasses her defense budget. And we, in this Nation, have an opportunity to enter into that clean energy global race in a sound and practical manner, to prepare ourselves and to invest in the American economy and in the American race in that global measure that will find us a leader, an innovator, one that will become the ultimate go-to nation for energy intellect. And that is the juncture we find ourselves in today.

Representative Perriello, I would suggest that this clean energy economy that we try to create, and Representative Welch touched upon it just a moment ago, there is an awful lot of opportunity for us to invest.

The banking community has shied away from energy efficiency, from some of the retrofits we can do for businesses and residents. We know that in this economy it is much easier for them to grant a 20-year plan for a coal plant or a 30-year plan for a nuclear plant, but we can't get the investment in energy efficiency seen as our fuel of choice.

It has been stated that we are writing annually about a $900 billion check to our competitors simply because of our energy, our gluttonous energy behavior and the price tag on our energy bills. If we could move forward and provide for ESCOs, energy service companies, to go out into this company and retrofit our residential parcels and allow for us to reduce that demand that is worldwide gluttonous in nature, if we could invest in the infrastructure, the human infrastructure, the workforce, it is said that for every billion dollars of investment in retrofitting our residential parcels, some 8,000 jobs are created. That is how we bring back this economy. And it has been happening.

We have been doing installments. We have been great stewards of that stimulus package. We have made certain they go to vital projects. I can see it happening. I can see the pipeline activities coming in the next few months with high-speed rail, with communications opportunities. I think we are on the right course. We need to invest heavily now in a green energy, clean energy economy. That is our way in one sector of activity that can really produce a multitude of wins, with reducing energy demand, enhancing job creation, and reducing the carbon footprint of this Nation and the globe.

Thank you, Representative Perriello. Thank you again for bringing us together this evening.

The gentleman from Ohio charted for us the recession, and to use his phrase, it went off the charts, literally. I think what is important to recognize is that we stopped the bleeding. We stopped that drop off the charts with this stimulus package. And the experts, economists are suggesting that perhaps it would have been another one or two points higher, percentagewise, the unemployment rate.

Well, that translates into millions of people, millions of people who would have lost a job had it not been for this stimulus and stopping the bleeding. So I think this investment is wise. And it also tells us--we've heard here this evening--that we're investing in a way that allows America's business community and the manufacturing base to do it smarter. We give them the tools to do it smarter. I believe that that's how we sharpen the competitive edge for our business community. They compete in the global marketplace. If we give them a smarter outcome, we will be victorious at that global marketplace. We may not even do it cheaper, but we'll do it smarter. And that will be a thumbs up for the American worker.

So this evening, it was a pleasure to join with you to talk about what we can do with the clean energy economy, what we are doing with the stimulus, the investment in the future of this country in a way that uses cutting-edge tools, which is the important strategy here. And I am proud of the opportunities to be able to think outside the barrel when it comes to energy policy so that we can lift this Nation to a new era of accomplishment and competitiveness. It starts with the stimulus, and it will continue with legislation on jobs, job reform, health care reform, and certainly with energy independence. We need to multitask. Every American worker I know multitasks. We, here in this Chamber, need to multitask and get a host of legislative pieces done. These bills are essential to the rise of the American worker.

Madam Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.