Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to support our President's plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, but I want to stop and salute my colleague, my neighbor to the north, General Don Bacon, and the great State of Nebraska. As I tell people, I have never met a bad person from Nebraska yet. General Bacon continues to represent his State in a great manner, and I appreciate his friendship.

Madam Speaker, I rise to support the President's plan to replace the ACA exchanges and Medicaid expansion. This is simply in a death spiral right now. It is not working in Kansas. It is not working in the country. We cannot afford to go in that direction.

I am committed to helping those with long-term health issues, as well as those that get insurance outside the workplace, to truly find quality, affordable health care. We are not going to turn our backs on anybody. We are going to ensure there is a quality transition time for all patients.

Mr. Speaker, I was talking to constituents and reached a time when a very personal issue arose. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 115 and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 116.

Madam Speaker, this past December, our past President finalized a rule requiring States to fund Planned Parenthood through title X funding.

Today I rise as a cosponsor of and in support of this joint resolution, H.J. Res. 43, which repeals this Obama rule and allows States like mine, Kansas, to choose how to best allocate title X funds. The Obama rule is yet another example of government overreach that tries to force my State to fund Planned Parenthood.

Redirecting Federal funds away from abortion providers does not reduce funds for other title X programs. Instead, this will allow even more funding available for county health departments and other public health clinics for family planning, sexually transmitted disease testing, and lifestyle choices education.

While Planned Parenthood remains a political organization that spent tens of thousands of dollars in the last election to oppose pro-life candidates, let me stop and salute the nurses and social workers back home at the Barton County Health Department where I worked for years, and salute my fellow doctors, Dr. Perry Smith and Dr. Bill King, and everyone's favorite nurse practitioner, Sheila Hein, who dedicated themselves to helping women.

Mr. Speaker, I too am honored to be part of the 115th Congress, the freshman class, a group of people who want to work together.

I think back to my campaign the last two years, and one of the most common concerns I had from people were: Why can't people in Congress get along? Why can't you respect each other?

What I saw day after day was the left and the right yelling at each other and the press throwing gasoline on top of that fire.

I remember, growing up, my dad had a saying: If you don't have something good to say about somebody, then don't say it. That is always something that I have taken to heart.

I think back to my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Tyner. Her word for the entire year was ``respect.'' She taught us to respect ourselves and respect each other, and that is what I would like to bring to the 115th Congress, is respect for each other, for each other's points of views, and never question someone's intentions or motivations.

I believe in iron sharpening iron and coming up with better ideas together. I believe in defining problems together, to talk about the problem, and then discuss solutions together.

The hope is that you and I, my friends across the aisle and down the aisle, together we can come up with better solutions for this country. I believe that national defense is not a Republican or a Democrat issue. I believe the economy is not a conservative or a liberal issue. I think these are American issues that we need to fight to make better. I certainly don't think that health care is a Republican or Democrat issue.

My pledge is to work with civility, to work with respect toward my colleagues across the aisle and down the aisle. I look forward to making America a better place to live.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight with fellow physicians and other colleagues to speak out against the shameful act being allowed in some parts of this country: physician-assisted suicide.

When I became a physician, I took an oath in which I promised to help the sick and to abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm. To help intentionally take the life of a patient is morally abhorrent.

It is not only the beginning of a slippery slope that devalues the sanctity of all human life. It is not only based on a subjective set of qualifications lawyers and lobbyists agree to. It is against the very oath that my fellow physicians swear to uphold. I encourage my colleagues to fight for these same beliefs, to treat life as sacred, and, first of all, to do no harm.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for Georgia for yielding.

I am so proud to be here today. Before I talk about my district, I just want to say thanks to my fellow freshman class. I am so grateful to be part of the freshman class of the 115th Congress--a freshman class that includes 10 Members with military experience, a sheriff's officer, an FBI agent, two physicians, a dentist, and the rest of the class being mostly businessmen and businesswomen full of real-life experiences, which helps us solve problems with some little common sense.

As my family and I traveled our district of Kansas this last 2 years, traveling 30,000 miles, they constantly identified the three common problems. They were concerned about the economy, national security, and health care.

The first 2 years of those travels, I listened a lot. The last 6 months, I focused on solutions. I thought I would share today some of the common solutions that my classmates and I have talked about, as well as my constituents back home.

First of all, as far as the economy goes, the number one problem with the economy is government overregulation. Overregulation creates uncertainty and consolidation. When there is uncertainty, businesses don't grow; they don't invest.

The overregulation creates consolidations. So instead of having three or four community banks in town, consolidation forces there to be only one bank. Oftentimes, those single banks no longer even make bank loans to people from their own community. Consolidation has occurred in hospitals and with physician practices as well, all too often.

I am so proud to stand up here today and hear that the Senate also approved one of the laws we have passed repealing regulations. We think, as we go down this path, repealing regulation will be a continued path for small businesses to grow. That is where 80 percent of our future job growth is going to come from: small businesses.

It is hard to believe, when I talk about national security, that men and women who live 1,300 miles inland from the nearest ocean, separated by mountains and rivers, are concerned about their own safety.

It is hard to imagine that before there was the Paris massacre or San Bernardino or Orlando that my constituents in Kansas were concerned about national security. I stand beside our President in making our border secure and working through immigration and refugee issues to make our Nation more secure. We think that is vitally important, and that is one of the reasons we elected this President and many, many people from my class as well.

Lastly, I want to talk about health care, something very near and dear to my heart.

For the past 6 years, I have lived the nightmare of ObamaCare. It has caused many, many physicians I know to quit, to give it up. ObamaCare has reduced us to data entry positions rather than

physicians who can listen and develop their clinical skills as we try to work with patients to solve their healthcare problems.

ObamaCare has led to consolidation of physician practices. It has led to high prices as well for insurance products. It has led to $12,000 deductibles for most families. It is no longer affordable. It is like having no insurance at all.

Eighty percent of Americans are not happy with the Affordable Care Act, but I want to assure the American public and my constituents that, for every 5 seconds I have spent thinking about repeal, I have spent 5 days thinking about replace.

Though quite often the press wants to talk about this as two separate books, this is one book in my life--a book of repealing and replacing as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I want to assure all my constituents back home that, if you are on an ObamaCare product right now, we are not pushing you off any cliff. We are going to give you a period of transition where you can have a truly affordable healthcare product that works for you without a $6,000 or $12,000 deductible.

We are a party of solutions. If you will look at Dr. Price's bills he submitted the last 6 years, you will see great alternatives and solutions that the party has presented. We do think there are good solutions out there.

Speaking of Dr. Price, I can't help but just stop and say we need to approve him, confirm him as quickly as possible. Dr. Price is a physician, an orthopedic surgeon from Georgia, who has served Congress in multiple ways, including leading the Budget Committee.

I have not met a man I would rather have serve as the Secretary of HHS than Dr. Tom Price, a mentor to me--a mentor to many of us--a kind man, a Godly man, a person who cares about patients, who understands health care, but he also understands government. Before we can take many more steps with health care, we need someone in that position. I believe with all my heart that Dr. Price will do a great job.

I look forward to continuing my next several weeks here working with the freshmen, working with the rest of Congress. We are so optimistic. We think that great days are ahead of us.

I am going to close with a memory today that I will have forever of going to the National Prayer Breakfast. I have had the privilege of going to many, many events, but this may have been the greatest event I ever attended in my life to see men and women, leaders across the world, praying for our President, praying for our Vice President.

I am just thrilled to be a part of this. I am proud to turn this country back in a positive direction.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 642, the Fusion Center Enhancement Act.

I spent the last 2 years traveling across the State of Kansas, and was reminded time and time again that national security is a top-three issue for my residents.

Why is this?

After years of turmoil and the lack of strong American leadership, people in Kansas no longer feel safe.

This legislation that my colleague from Pennsylvania has introduced will ensure that those on the front lines of protecting our Nation's citizens have access to the critical information they need to evaluate threats to protect our national security.

Fusion centers conduct analyses and facilitate information sharing, which are necessary and fundamental actions that assist State and local law enforcement in preventing and responding to crime and terrorism.

Just this last week I had the opportunity to go back to meet with staff and visit the Kansas Threat Integration Center in Topeka, Kansas. I can assure you the work they are doing is vital to our national security and the citizens of my State. They are leveraging partnerships with the private sector and focused on protecting our critical infrastructure.

I encourages my colleagues to support H.R. 642.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of today's resolution to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

As a physician, I have lived the nightmare of the ACA for the past 6 years. Because of ObamaCare, I know more physicians leaving their practice this year than any other year. With $12,000 deductibles and annual premium spikes of over 50 and many times over 100 percent, ObamaCare has made health care truly unaffordable and unattainable for many, many people. In fact, it would be irresponsible for Congress to sit back and watch the ACA continue its death spiral and bankrupt our country.

As we begin to replace ObamaCare, we want to reassure Americans we will not pull the rug out from anyone. If you are on a current exchange policy or have preexisting conditions, we will have a period of transition and high-risk pools that will provide you with quality, affordable alternatives.

Like many others, my district sent me here to fix health care, and we intend to do just that.