Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, in celebration of Black History Month, I want to recognize African Americans from throughout Georgia's 11th Congressional District who have a major impact on their community. Today, I rise to recognize Shan Cooper of Marietta, Georgia. Shan serves as the Vice President of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and General Manager of Lockheed Martin's Marietta facility.

She previously served as the Vice President of Human Resources for Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions in Gaithersburg, Maryland and oversees the 8,000 Lockheed employees in Marietta.

Mr. Speaker, Shan has long been an integral part of the Lockheed Martin team, holding various positions in Mississippi, West Virginia, Maryland, and Georgia. We welcome her to Cobb County, and look forward to her contributions to our community.

Mr. Speaker, in celebration of Black History Month, I want to continue recognizing African Americans from throughout Georgia's 11th Congressional District who have a major impact on their community. Today, I rise to recognize Sidney Ford--who hails from Rome, Georgia--for his work as the Senior Pastor of St. Luke's Ministries, located in Cedartown, Georgia. Pastor Ford is a great asset not only to St. Luke's but also to the greater community where he is a mentor and a person who embodies the sentiment of ``giving back.''

Recently, Pastor Ford led efforts to improve the community by cleaning up Turner Street Park and turning it into a family friendly zone. Today, the park is a place where friends and neighbors can gather in peace. His dedication not only to his congregation but also to his community is one that deserves recognition and should be emulated.

I ask my colleagues to please join me in thanking Pastor Sidney Ford for his service and his commitment to the betterment of his community.

Mr. Speaker, in celebration of Black History Month, I want to

continue recognizing African Americans from throughout Georgia's 11th Congressional District who have had a major impact on their community. Today, I rise to recognize Shelia Robinson of Marietta, Georgia.

Between active duty and service in the Georgia Army National Guard, Shelia spent more than 22 years serving our country and the State of Georgia. From 1995-2005 while in the Guard as a Master Sergeant, she worked in the Counterdrug Program and helped manage an annual budget of $3 million.

Upon retiring from Active Federal military service, Ms. Robinson worked as the Administrative Assistant for the Director of Georgia's Office of Homeland Security where she gained the respect of numerous state agency heads for her professionalism, courtesy, and overall knowledge.

After three years with Homeland Security, Ms. Robinson returned to the Georgia National Guard in the capacity of Office Manager for the Adjutant General of Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to please join me in thanking Shelia Robinson for her service to our nation and the people of Cobb County.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise wholeheartedly in support of his amendment to repeal the funding of ObamaCare. ObamaCare, in not just my opinion, but many others have expressed this, is possibly the worst piece of legislation passed in the history of this Congress. In fact, it would probably be better called ``patient pain and non-affordable care act'' because it has accomplished none of the goals that President Obama set out to accomplish, especially not lowering the cost of health insurance.

So we in this body, the Republican majority, in our initial week in the 112th Congress, we passed a repeal of ObamaCare. Unfortunately, our colleagues in the Senate, the Democratic majority, stopped that. It is our obligation to the American people to defund this wrongful piece of legislation. It is costing jobs all across this country.

Talk about things like who is going to solve the problem of the doughnut hole, as the gentlelady from California just said. Well, I will tell you who solved it, Big Pharma solved it when the President and the Democratic majority in the last Congress broke their arm and made them agree to cut their prices in half for their brand name drugs. So there are other ways to solve the doughnut hole problem than having the Federal Government take it over lock, stock, and barrel.

In regard to having children remain on the health insurance policy of their parents until age 26, why are they going to have to do that? Because they have no jobs. And why do they not have any jobs? Because of the job-killing bills like ObamaCare, and stimulus, and bailout, and I could go on and on and on. We have an obligation to defund this and to replace it with the right kind of legislation that will accomplish the goals of lowering health costs so that many more Americans can have health insurance and have good health insurance.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I stand in full support of the King amendment. I was at the well just a few minutes ago in support of the Rehberg amendment. But what this amendment does is eliminate and stop the funding, the hundred billion dollars' worth of funding that was automatically put in this bill to prevent, if we took over the majority of this House, Mr. Chairman, as we have done, or try to stop us from stopping the worst bill that's ever been passed in the history of the Congress. And we have to do this.

This is a pledge to the American people. We can do it. We can start over, we can make this bill right, we can enact health care reform that truly does bring down the cost for patients so they can get access, they have more control, and that we don't destroy the medical profession in the process of continuing this wrongheaded, boneheaded ObamaCare bill.

So I want to stand strongly with my colleague from Iowa in supporting this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commemorate the legacy of President Ronald Reagan--a remarkable statesman and leader-- whose 100th birthday would have been last Sunday. Recently, I visited the Reagan Library in his home state of California, and I was reminded of his steadfast leadership and significant achievements on behalf of our Nation.

President Reagan was an icon of conservative principles. He brought about sound policies of individual freedom and fiscal responsibility which showed democracy and capitalism at its best. He was a man whose belief in free enterprise changed the course of difficult economic times towards growth and prosperity.

His influence was felt not only by those at home, but also abroad, as he exemplified leadership with unwavering determination during the Cold War. His mission to achieve ``peace through strength'' changed the course of history as our Nation ultimately prevailed against the forces of communism.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in taking this time to reflect on the great accomplishments of our 40th President and to join me in honoring him as one of the most influential men of our time.

Offered By: Mr. Gingrey of Georgia

Amendment No. 182: At the end of the bill (before the short

title) insert the following new section:

Offered By: Mr. Gingrey of Georgia

Amendment No. 183: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Offered By: Mr. Gingrey of Georgia

Amendment No. 184: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Offered By: Mr. Gingrey of Georgia

Amendment No. 185: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Offered By: Mr. Gingrey of Georgia

Amendment No. 186: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the National Franchisee Association, NFA, which serves the Burger King community in its advocacy, training, and service-related functions and which is located in Georgia's 11th Congressional District, I am honored to recognize Mr. Scott Maher, a 25-year employee of the Coca-Cola Company.

This year, Mr. Maher celebrates a landmark anniversary as an employee of the Coca-Cola Company. In his 25 years, he has dedicated himself to providing excellent service, honoring his commitments as a businessman and serving as a friendly face to the Coca-Cola name. In relation to the NFA, Mr. Maher actively advocates on behalf of small business owners around the country by supporting--both financially and personally--NFA's Government Relations Summit every year. Every September, you can count on Mr. Maher to schedule a meeting with my office through NFA to discuss the effects of anti-business legislation on NFA members and, consequently, the Coca-Cola Company.

The NFA is eternally grateful for Mr. Maher's support of the franchising industry and of Burger King franchisees in particular. Congratulations on 25 years of service with the Coca-Cola Company and I wish you many more to come.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Massachusetts must not be familiar

with a waiver under the Medicaid program called Katie Beckett--the poster that he showed us of the young child with preexisting conditions. This program Katie Beckett still exists. There is a waiver. There is opportunity for children with preexisting conditions to get coverage.

The Democrats are also disingenuous when they claim credit for immediately covering children with preexisting conditions. ObamaCare got it wrong. They did not guarantee that children would have their preexisting conditions covered. It is ironic that this legislation was actually drafted incorrectly.

Mr. Speaker, with my slow drawl, I don't think in 30 seconds I can refute everything the gentleman from Pennsylvania had to say--but 120 million people with preexisting conditions, they would all have to have hang nails and fever blisters to have preexisting conditions. And if you believe those statistics, I've got a beach I can sell you in Pennsylvania.

This business about $230 billion savings, we've already discussed that. They use 10 years of revenue and 6 years of charges. It's smoke and mirrors.

And, finally, on the issue of the doughnut hole, the drug companies have already solved that problem.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Texas who just spoke was right about not causing thousands of job losses. It cost 4 million lost jobs since the Democrats took over in 2007.

Mr. Speaker, I have seen a number of posters here this morning showing really fairly well-to-do people struggling with health care issues. I don't have a poster; but if I had one, it would show men and women all over this country in cities holding soup cans in line waiting, hoping desperately to get a job. And I will guarantee you, every one of them would take those jobs even if they didn't have health insurance.

The point here, Mr. Speaker, is the Democratic priority was entirely wrong. Yes, it's something they've been wanting to do since the 1930s; and, yes, it's something the American people didn't want since the 1930s. Every time it's come up, the American people don't want the government to take over health care. They have rejected it time and time again.

We will vote for H.R. 2 and pass it. And if the Senate and the President want to ignore the will of the American people, they do it at their own peril.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for giving us the time and, in fact, we are very appreciative on our side of the aisle of having this opportunity this evening, Mr. Speaker, on, really, a historic day in which we finally delivered to the American people a promise that has been made over a year ago, that should this bill, this comprehensive health care reform bill sometimes referred to as ObamaCare but more formally known as Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, should this legislation pass, that if we had the opportunity to take control of this House of Representatives to get that gavel away from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the prior Democratic majority, that our first and number one priority on behalf of the American people would be to repeal this mistaken bill.

Today, Mr. Speaker, is the day that that happened and certainly I am extremely grateful, as cochairman along with my colleague, Tim Murphy from the great State of Pennsylvania, Dr. Murphy and I cochair the House GOP Doctors Caucus. Mr. Speaker, we grew our strength in this election, November 2. We had about 11 Members in their caucus, 11 very active hard-working Members who practiced medicine in one form or another, one specialty or another for many, many years.

In fact, I think, Mr. Speaker, one time we calculated the number of years that we have actually practiced medicine, and it was something like 350 years of clinical practice. As you notice, Mr. Speaker, there is a little bit of a grayness around the temple of some of us.

But we are very thankful for this election and the American people giving the Republican Party the opportunity to right this wrong and to bring seven additional Members, seven additional health care practitioners, again, some of them have been in practice many years, dentists, doctors, even some associate members of our group, some registered nurses to be part of this new majority.

As we voted today on H.R. 2, the repeal bill of ObamaCare, I can assure you that 100 percent of us, in fact, 100 percent of Republicans, all 242 on our side of the aisle, plus, I think, three or four Democrats in a bipartisan way, joined with us in voting to repeal this bill.

I realized this evening, Mr. Speaker, that our time is limited. I am very pleased that some members of the House GOP Doctors Caucus are with us.

I would first like to take the opportunity to yield to my cochairman, Dr. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania. Dr. Murphy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Dr. Murphy for his remarks. And now I would like to yield time to my colleague from the great State of Georgia. I represent the 11th District; he represents the 10th District in the Athens area. He is a great friend of mine, a family practitioner, Dr. Paul Broun.

Reclaiming my time, and I thank the gentleman from Georgia from the 10th Congressional District. The gentleman makes some great points. And colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I would ask you to look at the posters that we have here because what Dr. Murphy, Mr. Speaker, and Dr. Broun are talking about is really the plan. And the plan is not a plan, but it is a series of plans, if you will. It's a plan A, it's a plan B, and it's a plan C. And of course today, the repeal as depicted on this very first and second poster was at least a House completion of plan A, and that is repeal of ObamaCare as this poster depicts. Priority number one, we feel very strongly that that's what we need to do, and that's what we did in this House today.

As Dr. Broun was talking about, Republican priority number two is not only to repeal it, but to replace it, because every one of us, particularly the members of the House GOP Doctors Caucus that are on the floor this evening, understand that nothing is perfect. And as Dr. Broun and others have said, we tried to bring forth legislation during the 111th Congress. We gave a copy of ``Better Solutions'' to the President, Mr. Speaker. Pages 8 and 9 were all about our plans and other options other than a government takeover, lock, stock and barrel, of the health care system. The President said, well, I got it, I read it, and then went on to say, they have no ideas, they won't bring me any ideas, if they only would.

So priority number two, of course, replace ObamaCare with reforms that empower patients and protect our economy. And then, of course, as I say, Republican priority number three in this poster, repeal and defund provisions of ObamaCare until full repeal is successful if we're not able to get the Senate and the President to go along with us in regard to this full repeal. If they don't do it, quite honestly, they are not listening, Mr. Speaker, to the American people. They do that at their own peril.

I would yield back to the gentleman from Georgia for 5 seconds.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to one of our freshman members, the gentleman from Arizona, Dr. Paul Gosar. Dr. Gosar is a dentist and has been very, very active not only in his own practice in Arizona but in the American Dental Association. At this time I am proud to yield to a freshman member, our colleague, Dr. Paul Gosar.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona and welcome him, of course, to the House GOP Doctors Caucus.

Our final speaker, and I want to yield time to a cardiothoracic surgeon, Mr. Speaker, from Indiana, a new member, Dr. Larry Bucshon, and I think Dr. Bucshon was here on the floor a little earlier when the Democratic 30 minutes was controlled by the gentleman from Minnesota, and he made some remarks against the fact that we were successful in repealing ObamaCare. And I think Dr. Bucshon would like to comment on some of those points that were made.

At this time, I proudly yield to our new member, Dr. Larry Bucshon.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.

Before I yield again to my cochair, Dr. Murphy, I want to make a few comments in regard to some of the things that were said on the Democratic side of the aisle just within the last 30 minutes. The gentleman that spoke is a fine, fine Member, has a great heart and a lot of compassion and is a friend of mine and I don't refute him in any way of being strident or any animosity toward him, but the gentleman made a comment about why not give the law a chance, I think is sort of the way it was put, Mr. Speaker. The Republican majority, the new Republican majority wanted to come along with H.R. 2 and repeal the bill, didn't even want to give it a chance to see how well it might work.

Mr. Speaker, I would just say on a point like that, we on this floor right now on the Republican side of the aisle, we doctors know that when you discover a cancer, you don't give it a chance to grow. You don't give it a chance to metastasize. You cut that sucker out and you get rid of it lock, stock and barrel. As our colleague from Iowa, Steve King, said the other day, you pull it out by the roots. I think, Mr. Speaker, the Speaker, John Boehner, said the same thing. We feel very strongly that today we did the right thing.

I have a number of other charts here that my colleagues might want to reference in regard to specifics about what we feel about this bill and why we needed to repeal it and basically start over.

I will finally quickly say that I heard the other side talk about statistics, saying that only 18 percent of people wanted the bill completely repealed. That is not an accurate statistic. Eighteen percent wanted to leave it like it is. Fully 75 percent in the latest Rasmussen poll either wanted it to be repealed or repealed and replaced. Or if not repealed, significantly altered. And, of course, that is what we are about as we go forward.

I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Dr. Murphy).

I realize our time is running short, and I want to make a couple of points before yielding to Dr. Broun for a final comment.

Republican doctors can help the repeal-replace effort, and I have four bullet points that I want to point out to my colleagues.

Number one, health insurance reforms: Yes, but without government health plans.

Number two, guaranteed access to insurance: Yes, but without an individual unconstitutional mandate.

Number three, reduce the cost of health care: Yes, but without gutting Medicare, especially the Medicare Advantage program and taking something like $130 billion out of that program. And I think it was pointed out earlier that 20 percent of Medicare recipients are on Medicare Advantage, or at least they were.

And number four, medical liability reform, and I will have a bill addressing that issue.

Let me turn to my colleague from Georgia for a final comment.

Just a few closing remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Dr. Gosar and Dr. Bucshon for being with us tonight.

You know, we didn't have time to go into all of the details that we would like to have gone into, but one thing that is absolutely clear is that Governors across this country--and not just Republican Governors but Democratic Governors as well--are very, very concerned with the Medicaid mandates and the fact that this maintenance of effort requirement that says that Governors who can't even be innovative and creative in running their own Medicaid programs is resulting in budget- busting in all of these States that have to balance their budgets. Unfortunately, we don't do that up here. They're having to cut education to the bone, and they're having to cut public safety to the bone because of the massive increasing costs of Medicaid.

Well, we thank the Speaker for the time, and we appreciate the opportunity to speak to the American people. We will be back here tomorrow to pass House Resolution Number 9 so that we can get busy on replacing ObamaCare.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank my colleague from California for yielding time.

I rise in strong support of this resolution.

First and foremost, I would like to extend my prayers and wishes, as well as those of my constituents in northwest Georgia, to my colleague Representative Gabrielle Giffords, her family and staff, and to all the other victims of the shooting. What took place was an unspeakable tragedy, and it has absolutely no place in our society.

Madam Speaker, on Saturday morning, Ms. Giffords was hosting an event fundamental to our duties as Members of Congress--meeting with and listening to our constituents so that we can best represent them in Washington. It is painfully sad and sobering that, in the process of doing her job, Gabby was brutally attacked.

I had the pleasure of serving with Gabrielle on both the House Armed Services Committee and the Science and Technology Committee during the 110th Congress. I have always known her to be a thoughtful legislator and a dedicated public servant and have always appreciated her cheerful disposition. Throughout her tenure in Congress, Representative Giffords has distinguished herself as one of the Members of this body who works well with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

My prayers continue to be with her and her family, and I look forward to the day when she walks back onto this House floor.

Madam Speaker, we must also not forget the other individuals who were victims of Saturday's attack. One of the casualties was 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, who was born on September 11, 2001, and was recently elected to serve on her school's student council. Driven by her interest in politics, she had gone to Gabby's event last Saturday to learn more about our Federal Government. The tragedy of her death reminds us all of the fragile nature of life and what it means to be a public servant.

Additionally, we all know the critical role that our staff members play in helping us carry out our duties and better serve our constituents. Like us, members of our staffs are dedicated public servants. That is why it is truly heartbreaking that a member of Ms. Giffords' district staff, Gabe Zimmerman, lost his life in this senseless attack while two other members of her Arizona-based staff were injured.

In the midst of one of the darkest hours of our country in recent memory, let us also thank those whose courage and bravery, whether in helping take down the gunman or in assisting in providing care for the injured, deserve recognition. We thank them for their valor.

Madam Speaker, during times of tragedy, we depend on steady leadership to guide us through our grief. I commend the leadership of both parties for remembering that there is much more that unites us than divides us.

Again, I pray for the recovery of our colleague, Ms. Giffords, and for all of the victims of the Tucson shooting.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, we have heard a lot of arguments on the other side of the aisle in regard to the $230 billion cost, and on our side of the aisle, of course, only in America can something actually cost $1.15 trillion and eliminating it then all of a sudden costs $230 billion. But, yes, Ms. Slaughter, only in America, only in this Congress, numbers do lie.

Let me just say that what we have been talking about on this side of the aisle, of course, is the voice of the American people.

You know, it was about 3,000 years ago that a little shepherd boy walked into that valley of death looking up at all of those Philistines and that 9-foot giant Goliath from Gath. He had that coat of mail, he had the sword, he had the shield, he had the javelin. And what did little David have? He had a little pouch and a handful of stones. But he hit that giant right between the eyes, brought him to his knees, and then cut off the head of the snake.

That pouch and those little pebbles represent the voice of the American people. That is what we have on this side of the aisle. That is why we are going to pass H. Res. 9 and we are going to pass H.R. 2 next week, and we are going to deliver our promise to the American people to eliminate, to repeal ObamaCare.

The American people spoke loudly. They don't like this bill. The Democratic majority in the Senate and the President have one last chance to make amends. I think they will do it.