Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government has been running a universal nationalized health care system in the United States for over 100 years. Just ask those folks that live on Indian reservations.

Socialized medicine doesn't work, and America has already proved it by the way it has mistreated Native American Indians. They are treated under the Indian Health Services Program, a universal government-run health care system for Indians.

There are long waiting lines for service, doctors are scarce, the quality of medical care is poor, it costs too much, and it results in rationed health care. When the government is running health care, people die. Now the administration is forcing universal health care on everybody.

Let's look at some of our history on American-run health care: when Stephanie Little Light took her daughter, Ta'Shon Rain, to the Indian Health Service Clinic in Montana, which she was required to do since she is under the universal health care Indian program, the doctor said her little 5-year-old girl was just depressed. She had stopped eating and stopped walking. The little girl kept complaining to her mom that her stomach hurt. And after going back to the government-run health care clinic 10 more times, Ta'Shon's lung collapsed.

She was air-lifted to a private, nongovernment hospital in Denver where they told her mom she had terminal cancer. The little girl who loved to dance and sing and dress up in Indian costumes always wanted to see Cinderella's World at Disney World. A charity sent the whole family there, but Ta'Shon didn't get to see the castle when they got to Florida. The little girl had died in her hotel room. The mother says she still cries when she remembers how her daughter was always in pain before she died.

There are more examples. The doctors at the Indian Health-run clinic told Stephanie there was nothing wrong with her daughter, that she just had all of this in her mind.

This is a tragic example of medical health care run by the United States Government. There is a big difference between good intentions and what really happens in the real world. When there are no doctors left and the taxpayer money is gone and when bureaucrats control health care, people die. Is this what we are to expect under the new nationalized health care system?

Mr. Speaker, they say on these Indian reservations don't get sick after June because that's when all the Federal money runs out. So they ration health care.

The Indian Health Service Agency calls itself, get this, a ``rationed health care system.'' How's that for truth about socialized medicine?

Rhonda Sandland lives on Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. She'd had a terrible case of frostbite on both her hands, and her hands had turned purple. The pain got so bad that she could not even dress herself. She visited the Indian Health Service clinic over and over again. Rhonda says she didn't get any help there until she threatened to kill herself because of the pain. The clinic then decided to cut off five of her fingers. Lucky for Rhonda there was a private doctor that just happened to be visiting the reservation. He prescribed her medicine that she needed, instead of cutting off her fingers. She's okay today.

Victor Brave Thunder was not so fortunate. He felt real bad and he went to the same government clinic as Rhonda. They misdiagnosed the fact that he had heart failure, and gave him Tylenol and cough syrup. He later died.

Marcella Buckley has access to all the free government health care she can stand. Once again, she's required to go to the government Indian Health Care Services. Marcella had stomach pains and went to the government clinic on her Indian reservation for 4 years. She was given a whole host of reasons for her stomach pain, including the fact, they said, she might have a tapeworm. Eventually she found out she had Stage 4 stomach cancer, and it had spread all over her body. Now she seeks treatment at a private provider.

On another Indian reservation, Ardel Baker went to her government-run clinic because she had chest pains. They sent her in an ambulance to a private hospital where she noticed that they had put a note on her chest in the ambulance. And the note read, ``Understand that Priority 1 care cannot be paid for by us at this time because of funding issues.'' So they put a note on her, send her on her way to a private hospital because they can't take care of her. Ardel managed to survive that ordeal, thanks to private medicine.

But it was too late for Harriet Archambault. Harriet died when her hypertension medicine ran out. She tried five times to get an appointment to refill that medicine. Government bureaucrats nowhere to be found. So she died before she could ask for that sixth appointment at that government clinic.

Mr. Speaker, these are examples of government-run medical malpractice against the Indians right here in America. Government-run health care never works. Even in America we've proven it doesn't work.

And, Mr. Speaker, I will just close by saying this: If you love the way we run the Postal Service, and you love the way that we run FEMA, and you love the compassion of the IRS, you will love the new nationalized health care system. Just ask the American Indians.

Mr. Speaker, half of the primary care physicians say they would like to leave the practice of medicine in 3 years. There is just too much cost and time involved from red tape by insurance companies and the government agencies. And that's before government bureaucrats nationalize the whole system. Also, their costs for malpractice insurance has skyrocketed.

The American Medical Association said more doctors are leaving the profession than being replaced by new doctors. Doctors are just hanging up their stethoscopes and choosing a different line of work. It's just not worth it.

It costs about $200,000 to get through medical school. The government keeps bailing out its special interest buddies, but not one cent goes to help pay off these college loans. And the administration wants doctors to shoulder even more of the costs of practicing medicine. It's no wonder they're choosing other professions and moving off to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

To make matters worse, many doctors are no longer accepting Medicare or Medicaid patients because government reimbursement doesn't even cover the cost of the treatment. Now, isn't that lovely? No doctors and more patients.

Mr. Speaker, when we run out of doctors, what will we do? Turn our health care system over to government snake oil salesmen?

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, a Texas lawman has been killed in the line of duty. He was from Baytown, Texas. Shane Thomas Detwiler was a sheriff's deputy in Chambers County and a remarkable family man. He was just 31 years of age.

Shane was killed Monday of this week while investigating another shooting at an area mobile home park. A meter reader reported shots were fired at her when she went to shut off the water service. Shane was shot and killed when he responded to the call at this mobile home. He was gunned down upon entering the mobile home. After a long standoff, the shooter, Gilbert Ortez, Jr., shot and killed himself. Over 100 explosives were later found in his residence.

Shane's wife, Trish Detwiler, said her husband especially loved spending time with their three kids--sons Audie and Aiden and their daughter Abigail. Trish is an English teacher at Barbers Hill High School. In fact, today some of her students who belong to the Future Farmers of America, the FAA, happened to be in town and came by and visited me.

Trish said Shane would get up late at night with the children and make dinner for the whole family every night.

Trish, along with Shane's parents, Tom Detwiler and Cheryl Railsback, said Shane had a sense of adventure and eagerness to try new things. He was a certified scuba diver and also he was about to tackle spearfishing.

Shane wasn't born in Texas, but he got there as fast as he could. Shane was born in Ohio in 1977, and moved to Texas when he was four years of age. He met Trish when they were both in the third grade at Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, which is north of Houston. Shane played soccer, was a Cub Scout, and played trumpet in the Cy-Fair High School Band.

Mr. Speaker, this is a photograph of Shane taken not too long ago.

Shane joined the United States Army when he was 17. His mom, Cheryl, had to sign the papers, but she said he really wanted to be a soldier. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant in the United States Army. He served in Korea in 1998 and 1999. When he got back home to Texas, he earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University in just 2\1/2\ years, graduating summa cum laude.

He became a Texas game warden. That's a photograph of him here in his game warden uniform. That happened in 2003. He earned the nickname ``Superman'' from his fellow game wardens because he excelled in everything he did.

In 2005, Shane left for a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq when his oldest boy was just 3 weeks of age. He served as a counterintelligence special agent for the 321st Military Intelligence Battalion. He earned the Bronze Star and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

But after his tour in Iraq, Shane came home to Texas to his game warden job and then he became a Chambers County sheriff's deputy just 2 months ago. The job of a deputy with the Chambers County Sheriff's Department allowed him to spend more time with his family. He worked the night shift until just last month.

This young lawman's death is particularly tragic because he leaves behind such young children. Shane's family pastor, Scott Neal of Eagle Heights Fellowship, said it's been particularly heartbreaking. He said, ``I asked his wife how she was doing, and she said, `Only my 4-year-old will remember who their father was.''' That's very sad.

Mr. Speaker, the men and women who serve this country as lawmen and soldiers make great sacrifices to guard the safety and security of our communities. They risk their very lives in that service every day. Their families make great sacrifices as well.

So today we pay tribute to the extraordinary young man called Shane, with so much life ahead of him and his young family who suffers the loss of a wonderful man.

This Nation and the State of Texas owe Shane and his family an immeasurable debt of gratitude for their sacrifice. My fellow Texan who also represents southeast Texas, Dr. Ron Paul, and I are deeply sorry for the loss of Shane. Tomorrow, Shane will be buried in Mont Belvieu Texas.

Mr. Speaker, Shane Detwiler wore the uniform of a soldier, he wore the uniform of a Texas peace officer, he fought bad guys in Iraq, and back home he fought them as well. He did double service protecting the people. He was quite a person. He was the best that America has.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, Social Security Administration executives recently enjoyed a luxury retreat at the expense of the American taxpayer. They flew 700 of their managers to the picture perfect, swanky Arizona Biltmore Hotel for what they called ``organizational training.''

It cost the taxpayers $750,000. These bureaucrats enjoyed golf, musical entertainment, dancing, skits, catered food, cocktails and even a casino night. Sounds like a vacation for the rich and famous.

Meanwhile, seniors are worried about even getting their monthly Social Security checks.

There was a near riot when taxpayers found out AIG spent half that amount for their luxury retreat by using taxpayer bailout money. But the Social Security spokesman, Peter Spencer dismissed the comparison with AIG by saying, Well, it's different taxpayer money. I'm glad he cleared that up for us.

The arrogance of the Social Security execs to be jet-setting around the country, going to a luxury spa, and then making people paying into Social Security pick up the $750,000 tab is disgraceful. I guess the spendacrats never heard of teleconferencing or even the Motel 6.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, under the United States Constitution, article I, section 2, it states that every 10 years there will be a counting of the people. The purposes are twofold: One, to levy direct taxes, and second, to find out how many people live in the United States so that Members of Congress can be apportioned percentage-wise based on population. That is the purpose of the census, and it's a good purpose. Next year we will have another undertaking of the census, of the counting of the people in the United States.

But also, independent of the census, there is a survey that is being taken, given, rather, to American citizens, 3 million next year and 3 million every year. Now, I want to make it clear that this is not the census, but this is a system of surveying the American people, and it just so happens that today I got one of these surveys. It's labeled from the United States Department of Commerce, the Census Bureau, and it's the American Community Survey, and it says, Your response is required by law.

You open this document, you get a lot of paperwork. You get several documents that say you have to fill this out or by penalty of law if you don't, but you get the survey. Mr. Speaker, the American Community Survey is 28 pages. If a person receives one of these and doesn't fill it out, you've violated Federal law.

Now, the survey contains a lot of information that makes me wonder, Why does the Federal Government even want this information? Why should the Federal Government even have this information?

And here's some of the questions that it asks: the value of your residence, how much you pay monthly for your residence on your mortgage, how many rooms in your house, how many toilets are in your house, what kind of vehicles do you drive. I guess they want to know how many pickups are in Texas.

Do you have a stove? a refrigerator? What type of fuel do you use? How much does it cost you each month to use that fuel? How much does each person in the household or in the residence, rather, make? What is their income? Where do they work? What do they do? How long have they done that? What is the cost of the mortgage? What is the cost of health insurance for each person, and what is the cost of taxes in the house? And it goes on and on and on, 28 pages, required by Federal law under the American Community Survey Act.

I won't go into all the questions because I don't have time, but I'd like to mention one more. One question is, each person has to answer this question, because of a physical, mental or emotional condition, does the person have trouble concentrating, remembering, or making decisions?

Now, should the Federal Government have that information? And why should a person in the residence make that determination about themselves and then have to answer that question for everybody else in the residence?

I certainly hope they're all getting along well.

It also asks, because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition, does the person have difficulty dressing, doing errands, difficulty shopping? And it goes on and on and on, Mr. Speaker.

Back in 2007, two historians found some old documents from the Department of Commerce archives and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library. These documents confirmed for the first time that the Census Bureau turned over information to incarcerate over 100,000 individual Japanese Americans after the Pearl Harbor attack. This information was reported by USA Today. The Census Bureau information made it all possible. Of course, the Census Bureau has denied that it gave that information. But be it as it may, it was legal in 1940.

In 1942, documents proved the Census Bureau turned over these addresses of the Japanese Americans to the War Department. In 1943, they turned over their financial information to the Department of the Treasury.

This was all nice and legal in the War Powers Act of 1940. It was legal, but it wasn't ethical, and we know what happened to 100,000 Japanese Americans. They were interned. The point is this, Mr. Speaker. This should be voluntary. If United States citizens want to give all of this information to the Federal Government so the Federal Government can have a file on everybody, then they should be allowed to do that, I guess, but it shouldn't be required by law. That is why I've introduced legislation to allow citizens not to fill this document out if they don't want to, because it invades, in my opinion, their personal privacy rights.

Once again, I'm not talking about the census. I am talking about the survey that is being required by law to be sent out. People down in southeast Texas, people who live in Cut and Shoot, Texas, for example, shouldn't be required to fill this information out. It violates their privacy. It's too much government. It may be well-intended, but the Federal Government should not have this information, and we as Members of Congress should allow this information to be, not required, but voluntarily given by the people of the United States.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, if there's one thing the Feds are really good at, it's wasting money. And thanks to the so-called stimulus bill, there are billions of citizen dollars floating around loose being blown by the wasteacrats.

In a report released last week by the Government Accountability Office, we found out that the money is not being used to create permanent jobs in the private sector as it was intended. It's actually being used to pay for overspending in State budgets and expand government bureaucracy.

In some States, Mr. Speaker, they're erecting signs to try to convince people that the government stimulus boondoggle is a success. Here's one of those signs. This sign is being posted where no construction has actually started--and the signs cost $2,000 in Pennsylvania and New York. New Jersey pays $3,000 for a sign like this. Who's making these signs--Michelangelo?

When Big Government is in charge of the job creation business instead of private industry, it's easier to create million-dollar public relations propaganda signs than it is to create real jobs.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, the taxacrats are at it again, cooking up new taxes to try to pay for the government takeover of health care. This time they want to raise taxes on small businesses. The so-called rich the taxacrats are targeting are America's entrepreneurs, the engine of the American economy.

Madam Speaker, taxes are the root of all Federal mischief. Businesses with less than 500 employees produce half of America's gross national product and account for the majority of our jobs. The taxacrats want to force these small businesses to buy health insurance for all of their employees, whether they can afford it or not. And if they don't, they will have to pay stiff fines, and of course, that will kill jobs.

The taxacrats also want to take $540 billion in taxes out of budgets of small businesses to pay for their nationalized health care boondoggle. Small businesses need a tax break, not a tax hike.

Madam Speaker, it has always been the American entrepreneurial spirit creating new small businesses that have made this country work. There is an ebb and flow of businesses closing and new ones opening up. But these days, more are closing than opening. By the end of May, commercial bankruptcies were up 52 percent this year compared to the first five months of last year.

Eva Christian owns a popular European-style restaurant called Cafe Boulevard in Dayton, Ohio. She is one of the 8,300 businesses that have already filed for bankruptcy protection this year. Eva is trying to keep her cafe open and her workers employed while she tries to work things out with creditors. She says that the rising cost of food and energy combined with local unemployment have made it tough because her regular customers don't come around anymore. She cannot afford to be forced to give health care coverage to her employees, and her ability to bounce back will be smothered by the taxacrat not only health care proposals but new taxes on small businesses. So she will just close up.

Making matters worse, the high cost of energy is making everything cost more. The taxacrats refuse to expand the drilling for oil and natural gas here at home that would bring not only prices down but create millions of American jobs and not send them to Saudi Arabia. They want to kill the coal industry that supplies most of our electricity. They don't want to build more nuclear power plants that provide limitless clean energy. Their solution is to tax energy consumption on all Americans. All that will do is decrease the energy supply and cause energy costs to go up. There is no transition fuel and no energy source to transition to for at least 10 more years. That's not going to power our industries or fill anybody's gas tank so they can even get to work.

When the government took over General Motors and put it into bankruptcy, the small businesses nationwide that supplied the auto industry took a big hit. Seat belt manufacturers, floor mats, rearview mirrors, spark plugs, windshield wiper blades and electrical wires and washers, including hoses, belts and gaskets, all of the parts and pieces that come together to make automobiles, were losing jobs.

When big business files for bankruptcy, it affects the small businesses that supply them--small businesses, as you may recall, Madam Speaker, that got no bailout. They weren't important enough to keep from failing or politically influential with this administration, so they just went out of business.

When the new Government Motors put hundreds of their dealerships out of business, it hurt the local strip malls, restaurants, dry cleaners, grocery stores, sandwich shops, gas stations, on and on, and that causes financial struggles for the industries who supply these small businesses.

Madam Speaker, America's small businesses offer the best hope for new job creation. The government needs to get out of their way. Stop sucking the oxygen out of the economy with higher taxes and higher energy costs. Let America's entrepreneurs keep more of their own money to pull the country out of this mess. That says it in a nutshell: let them keep more of their own money.

Taxacrats want to control America's economic engine; however, they want to seize the wealth created in this country and spend it on their special friends and special interest groups. America's economy doesn't work that way. No economy ever has. If the government seizes the wealth it created, that these businesses created, however, it kills any incentive to create wealth. Just ask the former Soviet Union. Why do you think they went out of business? Why would anybody in their right mind invest money, blood, sweat, and tears to build a company from scratch only to hand the fruits of their labor over to the government? Governments don't create anything. They just seize it. They don't create jobs. They create taxpayer programs.

America's economy is the most successful in the history of the world, and the reason is easy to figure out: freedom. Freedom to create and grow an idea into a company, a dream to make it a multinational corporation. It makes no sense at all to kill the greatest economy on God's green earth, along with the freedom and liberty that created it. You cannot help the poor by economically killing the rich. It's been said, You don't make the poor rich by making the rich poor. Madam Speaker, taxes are the root of all Federal mischief.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the government control crowd is pushing for universal government takeover of health care. They say only Dr. Uncle Sam can cure the high cost of medicine.

Well, one way to keep down the high cost of health care that no one dares mention is to secure the borders. The flood of illegals coming here for free health care services costs taxpayers billions every year. California spends $1.5 billion a year in medical costs just for illegals. No wonder they are going broke. Texas spends $700 million a year. Virginia spends $100 million a year, and they are not even a border state.

That doesn't count the cost to hospitals that treat illegals. Hospitals aren't allowed to check citizenship, so illegals use expensive emergency rooms to treat minor ailments. The hospital then must charge more to citizens and legal immigrants just to stay in business. Illegals also drive up the cost of medical insurance for everybody else.

Mr. Speaker, if we stop paying for medical coverage for illegals, then citizens and legal immigrants could obtain affordable health care. Americans should not be forced and coerced to pay for the health care of people illegally in the United States.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to congratulate Hayley and Derric Smith on their marriage on Saturday, May 23, 2009.

Hayley is from Bridgeport, Texas and Derrick is from Hobbs, New Mexico. The two met in college while attending Texas A&M. Hayley graduated with a Communications degree in 2008 and Derric earned an Agriculture Leadership and Development Degree in 2007. After graduation they both moved to Washington, D.C. where Derric proposed to Hayley in Statuary Hall located in our nations Capitol.

Derric has been accepted to law school at Southern Methodist University in the fall of 2009 and Hayley and Derric will be moving to Dallas, Texas. While I know Hayley and Derric will go on to achieve great things, I will miss Hayley's spirit, work ethic, and Texas pride that comes from an Aggie graduate.

Hayley has truly been an asset to my office over the last year. I know that she looks forward to getting back to the great state of Texas and hoping the Aggies can pull off an upset over the Texas Longhorns at some point.

The commitment that Hayley and Derric have to each other will only get stronger as they begin a new chapter in their lives together. I would like to congratulate them again on their marriage and wish them the very best in all of their future endeavors.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the most toxic atmosphere today is the political climate. At the EPA, scientists are not allowed to disagree with the rabid dogma about climate change.

Recently, Alan Carlin, a 35-year veteran scientist at the EPA, issued a report that challenged the theory of global warming. Carlin pointed out serious problems with the science used to draw false EPA conclusions. He revealed new research that contradicts dire predictions that mankind is destroying the world. He pointed to evidence that the Earth is actually cooling. The EPA suppressed the report.

Carlin's boss warned him that he had better not talk about the report or disagree with the EPA's green agenda.

The suppression of speech and information undermines the very foundation of self-governance. Yet there is a systematic suppression of information that contradicts what has become a green religion at the

Mr. Speaker, the people of Iran are embroiled in a noble struggle against tyranny. The Government of Iran is engaged in the massacre of its own people. And what is their crime? They dare to speak out against fraud and corruption in their own government. They question the results of an election steeped in fraud.

Their peaceful dissent has resulted in violent and brutal crackdowns from the hard-line government, a government that has shed the blood of the innocent.

The people of Iran have boldly and bravely exercised the first basic human right, the right of free speech. The crackdown is startling news to the students who believed their government, despite its flaws, had the best interests of its people at heart. That veil has been forever lifted from their eyes.

In America, we faced a similar awakening to the brutality of the Government of England when that ruled us. The city of Boston was occupied by British troops to enforce harsh taxes and punishments intended to exert control over American colonies by force and intimidation. Citizens took to the streets to vocally decry the tyranny. Tense words were exchanged, and the British soldiers opened fire on a group of unarmed patriots. Five people were killed and eight others were injured.

We call it the Boston Massacre. The Boston Massacre has ended, but the Iranian Massacre has begun. And the silent voices of the slain still cry from the graves of the martyred oppressed.

These students have embraced the ideals of liberty and freedom. They value human life and dignity. Now they are faced with the realization that the republic they were taught to believe is not what it claims to be. They suffer the consequences of demanding human rights from a violent and tyrannical government.

The streets of Iran are eerily silent now, but the opposition does continue. A quiet and righteous anger builds in these oppressed and brutalized young people. One young student said, ``My friend, a 26- year-old fellow student, was on the streets last week. She is now

home with a broken arm and a broken leg. `I saw hell right before my eyes last week,' '' she said. `You can never imagine the sight of a huge man beating you to death.' ''

It looks to me, Mr. Speaker, that these young students of Iran, these sons of liberty and daughters of democracy, have joined the few, the noble few who throughout history have stood and faced vicious tyrants.

A noted historian once said, ``You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers. Yet in their hearts there is unspoken, unspeakable fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts, words spoken and thoughts stirring at home that are all the more powerful because they are forbidden to be spoken.''

These young students are not alone, Mr. Speaker. We are kindred spirits. America has earned its freedom through struggle and shed its blood in many countries around the world in defense of freedom and liberty.

You see, Mr. Speaker, each of us throughout the ages of time are born with the unbroken spirit in our soul to be free, to desire liberty and freedom. Tyrants have always tried to enslave people in a brutal dark nightmare for the sake of their personal political power and financial gain. Indeed, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.

The closing words written by this young Iranian student could have come right from the pages of America's own history books in the fight for our liberty.

He said, ``One thing we know for certain. This isn't a fight that will end tomorrow or next month. It is not a fight that any group or party can fight alone. The path is uncertain, the road ahead is quite bleak. But my generation, born on the sidelines only to watch and to obey, has now been given the opportunity to write its own history, to tell its own story. And to the best of our ability, we will do that.''

Americans should stand with these young people of Iran who have suffered much in their struggle for human rights and human dignity. Their courage in the face of overwhelming odds is an example to all who honor freedom. They have earned their own place of honor in the pages of history among those who have so valiantly fought and died for the cause of human dignity.

Sam Adams was one of America's sons of liberty, and he said, ``It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in the minds of people.''

May the students of Iran prevail in their holy cause of freedom.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, Texas A&M University was founded in 1876 as a land grant college under the Morrill Act. The university began as an all male military school until after World War II. Aggies have been serving with honor in the armed forces since the Spanish American War of 1898. In fact, Texas A&M is the largest provider of military officers outside of the Nations service academies. General George S. Patton said, Give me an army of West Point graduates, and I'll win a battle Give me a handful of Texas Aggies, and I'll win a war.

During the Spanish American War, eighty-nine Aggies served in the Army, and sixty-three Aggies served as officers. When the United States became involved in World War I, 702 A&M graduates served in the military, and 668 graduates were officers. Texas A&M trained over 4000 troops during World War I.

It was World War II, however, when Texas A&M exhibited its expertise in training soldiers as well as scholars. Twenty thousand Aggies served in World War II; fourteen thousand of these men were officers, and twenty-nine were generals. In order to speed up the process of sending more Aggies to the front lines of the war, Texas A&M instituted a twelve-month, three semester training program to prepare its soldiers. The entire graduating classes of 1941 and 1942 enlisted in the armed services immediately following graduation. Seven Congressional Medal of Honor winners during the second world war were graduates from Texas A&M. They included MAJ Horace S. Carswell, Jr., class of 1938; LT Thomas W. Fowler, class of 1943; LT Eli Whitely, class of 1941; SGT William Harrell, class of 1942; 2LT Lloyd D. Hughes, class of 1943; LT Turney W. Leonard, class of 1942; and SGT George D. Keathley, class of 1937.

Six Aggies were survivors of the 131st Texas National Guard Field Artillery, best known as the Lost Battalion because it was three years before the fate of the men was known. They were captured on Java in 1942, and then transported to Burma, where they were forced to build the infamous Railway of Death depicted in the movie Bridge Over River Kwai.

Membership in the Corp of Cadets is now voluntary at Texas A&M; however, the university continues its tradition of training men and women to serve their country through military service.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, Private First Class Peter Kyle Cross wanted to be a missionary, but he decided he needed to mature a little bit first, so he joined the United States Army in August, 2008. He was born in Texas, but he and his family later moved to New York.

Private First Class Cross was deployed to Afghanistan in February with the 10th Mountain Division of New York. Private First Class Cross and his unit were out on patrol, and he went to get supplies for his fellow soldiers. Returning to platoon, driving on a narrow mountain pass, he saw a group of Afghan children herding sheep on the road. Peter swerved his Humvee to avoid hitting the kids and went off the side of the mountain. Peter Cross was 20 years of age.

This young American soldier's first instinct was to sacrifice his life for a group of children he did not know in a land far from home. Peter's father said of his son's sacrifice: ``His last act in life showed what kind of man he was, selflessly thinking of others.''

Last week, the governor of New York ordered all flags flown at half staff in honor of this Texan and New Yorker, Peter Cross. Amazing breed these young bucks of the United States Army.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, British Government medical ethics advisor Baroness Warnock proclaimed that people who suffer from dementia have a patriotic duty to die. She said: ``The care dementia requires is very expensive and drains the government resources for health care.'' This government decision maker said that people will soon be licensed to put other people down if they are unable to look after themselves. If that wasn't bad enough, she went on to say: ``If you're demented, you're wasting government resources.''

Human beings are a drain on the government; so they need to be put to death? Mr. Speaker, that sounds like a rather sick and demented idea to me.

Government-run medicine like in England puts the government's welfare above the welfare of the people. Government always values itself more than anyone or anything. It's the nature of the beast.

Recently, the President said at a town hall meeting we could save money on health care in America by putting a stop to expensive procedures for people who have been diagnosed with terminal diseases. He said: ``Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, just taking the painkiller.''

Now, is our government going to adopt the English system and determine who lives and who dies? It doesn't sound like a healthy health care plan to me.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding.

This legislation basically directs the Architect of the Capitol to quit ignoring history, just like the last piece of legislation where it is not mentioned anywhere in Emancipation Hall or the Visitor Center that this Capitol was built in due part by slave labor. Neither does that expensive Visitor Center mention any religious history that this country has.

I don't know if the Architect of the Capitol doesn't like the Pledge or approve of the national motto ``In God We Trust''; otherwise, both of those would already be in this expensive Visitor Center. Both mention God, and it appears that the Visitor Center, the way that it is conducted and constructed, wishes to disown and deny our religious heritage.

You go to the Visitor Center and you are led to believe, Mr. Speaker, that the national motto is not ``In God We Trust'' but it is ``E Pluribus Unum,'' because the national motto is never mentioned in the propaganda video that all people see when they come into the Visitor Center. Well, the national motto is not ``E Pluribus Unum.'' It is ``In God We Trust,'' and that is the national motto and it should remain as such.

Mr. Speaker, our religious history is a part of American history. When the Founders of this great country got together in the Continental Congress, before they decided to draft this new concept of freedom and liberty, Benjamin Franklin made the comment that if the good Lord is concerned about the birds that fall from the air, certainly he would be concerned about the birth of a new nation; and with that, the Members of the Continental Congress knelt down and they prayed. And, Mr. Speaker, we have continued that tradition every day since the Continental Congress.

We start every day the same way. When the House is called to order, the first order of business is a prayer. The second order of business is the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, and it is important that we continue those traditions, but it is also important that people who come to the Capitol understand that is part of our routine.

Mr. Speaker, ``unless the Lord watches over this House, the builders build in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, those that watch watch in vain.''

Above the flag behind you, Mr. Speaker, is the phrase ``In God We

Trust.'' It is not to the side. It is not below it. It is above it, symbolic of what we do each day, that we pray and then we have the Pledge of Allegiance. So I strongly support this legislation to make sure that the Architect of the Capitol does not deny our religious history. Put it in its proper perspective, because religion is a part of our history, whether the Architect of the Capitol likes it or not.

And that's just the way it is.