Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, in June of last year, President Obama told a crowd of people, ``If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. No one will take it away. No matter what.''

Mr. Speaker, it turns out there is someone who will take your health care plan away, and that person is President Obama himself. A report done by the President's own administration concludes that under Obama care, 50 percent of seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage plans, and it says that some of the Medicare cost control mechanisms may be unsustainable.

Our seniors are already struggling under the weight of the recession and they can't afford to lose the insurance that they depend on. House Republicans have better, common sense

health care reform plans that will help seniors and their families. House Republicans will work tirelessly to repeal this harmful bill and start over.

Madam Speaker, Republicans have been arguing ever since the debate on last year's failed stimulus bill that we need real tax relief to get our economy going and to create jobs. Today, the Democratic majority has brought forward a bill that offers $3.5 billion in tax relief for small businesses. Unfortunately, it also includes $19 billion in new taxes, including a major tax aimed directly at companies that invest in the U.S. and hire American workers. This comes just days after the Democrats rammed through a health care bill that raises taxes by $569 billion. And if Congress does not extend the tax relief that expires at the end of this year, Americans will see their taxes go up by another $3 trillion. So while there are some good things in this bill, it's hard to see how a collection of minor tax relief measures will spur job creation when small businesses are staring down the barrel of unprecedented tax increases in the year ahead.

When the Ways and Means Committee considered this bill last week, I offered an amendment to make permanent the $250,000 expensing allowance under section 179; however, Democrats voted down this and every other effort to provide real, permanent tax relief for small businesses. What has been added to the bill is a new $2.5 billion bailout for State welfare programs. This has nothing to do with creating jobs; yet it was mysteriously added to the bill after we marked it up in committee. I hope that this was not a deliberate plan to avoid having a vote in committee on the merits of this funding. After the public outrage over backroom dealmaking in the health care bill, it is disappointing to see the majority party again bypassing regular order to make last-minute changes to the bill reported by the committee.

Madam Speaker, the American people still want to know: Where are the jobs? This bill fails to answer that question, and the House should reject it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this flawed health care bill.

Madam Speaker, the American people have spoken again and again. They do not want to spend nearly $1 trillion on a new government health care program paid for by raising taxes, and raiding the Medicare trust fund. They don't want to force everyone to buy government- approved health insurance or subsidize health plans that cover abortion. And they don't want a 2,400-page bill riddled with backroom deals.

Madam Speaker, Americans are watching and know what is at stake. Let's reject this destructive legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the ``Reconciliation Act of 2010,'' written behind closed doors and published just a few days ago, does nothing to improve the Senate health care bill. It is simply more of the same: higher taxes on investment and job creation, more cuts to Medicare to pay for the new government health care program, and more special backroom deals reflecting the Majority's determination to pass this bill by any means necessary.

The reconciliation bill raises the Medicare payroll tax and, for the first time in history, applies it to unearned income. This tax hike is aimed squarely at small businesses and is sure to result in the loss of even more jobs. Even worse, Congress is once again raiding the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds to pay for other programs.

The reconciliation bill also contains higher cuts to Medicare Advantage--over $200 billion in all. If this passes, it is the end of Medicare Advantage as we know it. Senior citizens in many parts of the country will no longer be able to choose their Medicare plan. Once again, these cuts have nothing to do with solving Medicare's long-term budget problems. They are greasing the skids for the new government health care program.

Not only does the reconciliation bill leave in place many of the backroom deals included in the Senate bill, it adds several new ones, including a special tax exemption for union multiemployer health plans and extra Medicare money for hospitals and physicians in certain parts of the country. The American people have repeatedly expressed outrage at the special deals that are being made behind closed doors, yet the Democratic Majority still refuses to listen.

One of the most serious concerns I have heard from my constituents is that the Senate government health care bill will lead to rationing. Unfortunately, the Rules Committee refused to make in order my amendment to ensure that the new comparative effectiveness research board established by the Senate bill cannot be used as a basis for cost-based coverage denials. The Majority has repeatedly refused to include an ironclad guarantee that Medicare will not start rationing access to life-saving treatments because of their cost. The reconciliation bill also leaves intact a new Independent Payment Advisory Board of unelected bureaucrats that will have the power to change Medicare payment policies without congressional approval, and that cannot be repealed without a supermajority vote of the House and Senate. This board is charged not only with issuing recommendations, but also implementing Medicare policy. It is the ultimate embodiment of government-run health care where decisions about access to innovative new drugs, treatments and therapies are decided not by patients and doctors and a functioning marketplace, but by unresponsive and unaccountable bureaucrats working to contain costs.

In a final touch of irony for a Majority that has repeatedly insisted that they are not aiming for a government takeover of health care, this reconciliation bill incorporates a complete government takeover of the private student loan industry. The Majority's rationale for this policy is that the current policy of government subsidies for private businesses is not controlling costs and has become too expensive. The Congressional Budget Office has already told us that the Senate health care bill will cause individual private insurance premiums to rise faster than they would under current law. It is difficult to imagine that a government-industry cartel will be any more efficient for health insurance than it was for student loans. After a few years of this policy, will Democrats again conclude that costs are out of control and the government must take over?

The House should reject both the Senate government health care bill and this reconciliation bill that only makes things worse.

Madam Speaker, the American people could not be more clear. They want to fix the problems with our health care system, but they do not want the Democrats' government takeover of health care. It's time to stop the backroom deals and bring transparency to this debate. On a bill that rewrites one-sixth of our economy, adds $1 trillion to the Federal budget, and affects every American's health care, Members of Congress should stand up and be counted. I call on Speaker Pelosi to grant Republicans' requests for a call of the House so Americans can watch at home and can see and hear how their Representative is voting.

Madam Speaker, the Democratic leadership has been pushing the Slaughter solution rule to send the Senate health care bill to the President's desk without a separate House vote.

A vote for this rule is a vote for the Cornhusker kickback, a vote for the Louisiana purchase, and a vote for every other backroom deal in the bill. It's a vote for taxpayer-funded abortion. It's a vote to force Americans to buy from the same health insurance companies that the President has been attacking but at even a higher price.

Madam Speaker, Congress needs to understand that the American people won't be fooled. A vote for the Slaughter solution rule is a vote for the Senate's disastrous government takeover of health care. Vote ``no.''

Madam Speaker, the American people are increasingly rejecting government-run health care. They are saying ``no'' to backroom deals and gimmicks used by the majority party to ram this bill through by any means necessary. The Democrat leadership has greased the skids to ignore the will of the American people and make their vision of socialized medicine the law of the land.

Abusing the rules of when it suits the majority party's purpose is not what the American people want. Madam Speaker, allow us to do the work we were sent here to do. Let this bill stand or fail on its merits. An issue so important to America's future demands transparency and a legitimate up-or-down vote.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to express my support for H. Res. 1117, a resolution congratulating the California State University system on its 50th anniversary. Its Chico campus is located in the Northern California Congressional District I represent and provides residents of the North State with exceptional academic opportunities. In fact, 69 percent of students currently attending CSU Chico are from Northern California.

CSU Chico is a vital part of the community. It was established in 1887 and offers its 15,797 full-time students over 300 academic programs and 66 undergraduate majors. To better enrich the lives of its students, the university is home to almost 240 student organizations. Its commitment to academic excellence, coupled with the many opportunities it offers students, enable CSU Chico to produce informed and well-rounded individuals that contribute greatly to our local communities and the Nation.

I offer my congratulations to the entire CSU system on this noteworthy occasion, and wish it many more years of providing a high quality education to students from California and across our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, the President continues to ignore the American people's fundamental rejection of this health care bill. He needs to listen to the American public when they say ``no'' to Big Government and ``no'' to government-run health care. Yet, his proposal is more of the same government intrusion and high taxes that have been the dominant things of his health care plan since day one.

By refusing to change his plan, the President is demonstrating that today's summit and his rhetoric about working with Republicans to find solutions are purely for show.

Mr. Speaker, it's time to start over and allow the public to have a seat at the table.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This legislation provides for a 1-month extension of several important programs, including unemployment insurance and health coverage for Americans laid off in this recession, a postponement of severe cuts in Medicare payments to physicians and a satellite television law that allows Americans in rural areas to get access to local news and programming.

It's important to realize that this is not a jobs bill. On the contrary, the extension of unemployment insurance is needed because the 2009 stimulus bill didn't create the jobs Democrats promised. Laid-off workers should not be punished for that.

Instead of creating 3.7 million jobs as promised, the stimulus bill was followed by 3.3 million additional job losses. A record 16 million are now unemployed, and Americans are asking ``where are the jobs?''

The legislation before us continues the payment of a record 99 weeks of total unemployment benefits, but millions will soon be exhausting those benefits and wondering what comes next, and they will face a job market that on top of everything else is now burdened by mammoth unemployment payroll tax hikes caused by all the unemployment benefits paid to date. So the need to pass this bill today is the result of the failure of the Democrat stimulus bill to create the jobs they promised. If it had created those jobs, and unemployment were now under 8 percent and falling, as Democrats predicted it would be, we would be in a position to start winding these benefits down.

Instead, unemployment is near 10 percent, and even the administration thinks it will remain so through at least this year.

The CBO has estimated this bill will add over $10 billion to the deficit. Less than 2 weeks after the Democrats' pay-as-you-go bill was signed into law, we

are already seeing billions of dollars designated as ``emergency spending'' so we don't have to pay for it.

With abundant unused TARP and stimulus money that could pay for this bill, it's clear Democrats are not serious about fiscal responsibility.

We also need to craft policies that will actually create jobs so unemployed workers can get back to work. That will require ending the massive taxing, spending, and borrowing plans this Democrat Congress and administration has. These policies have created severe uncertainty among American workers and businesses, causing economic stagnation and discouraging hiring. We could eliminate this uncertainty and get the private-sector American job creation engine humming again by immediately extending all expiring tax cuts, scrapping plans for a government takeover of health care, scrapping plans to impose a national energy tax via a cap-and-trade program, repealing wasteful stimulus spending, and committing to not increasing taxes until the economy has fully recovered.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reluctantly support this legislation. While it has major flaws, which I outlined earlier, the current job market in so many parts of the country, including my own congressional district in northern California, is so bad that the help, especially for long-term unemployed individuals, in this bill is both needed and merited during the weeks covered by this legislation at the very least.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this rule and to the underlying bill. Excessive debt helped bring about the current economic downturn, and the American people know it. Working families have to make difficult choices every day to balance their budgets, yet Congress still refuses to make the tough choices needed to balance the Federal budget.

The legislation before us authorizes the Federal Government to go $2 trillion deeper in debt. In place of real fiscal discipline, it offers a phony pay-as-you-go rule that is full of loopholes and exceptions and does nothing to tackle our government's long-term structural deficits. The good news is that we can take real action to start cutting the deficit today. At a time when our economy is hurting and Washington continues to pile debt on future generations, it's simple common sense to stand up and say enough is enough.

By defeating the previous question and voting ``no,'' the House will have an opportunity to consider the End TARP Act, legislation I introduced along with Mr. Paulsen and Mr. Tiahrt that would finally bring TARP to an end and immediately reduce the amount of money the government must borrow. A vote for this rule is a vote in favor of the status quo in Washington. The American people have spoken, and it's time the House acts to reduce unnecessary spending.

Madam Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote.

Madam Speaker, it is with sadness that I recognize the loss of a wonderful public servant for Northern California, Mr. Doug Young. Doug was born on a small family farm in Sutter County and lived in Yolo County from 1971 until his death on January 3, 2010. He was married to his high school sweetheart, Diane Lee Young, for fifty-two years, and they have four grown children, five grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

Doug received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Davis in 1958. Alter graduating, he worked as a loan processor and real estate appraiser at the Farm Credit Association until 1966. He performed similar tasks as a Regional Director of the United States Department of Agriculture's Farmers Home Administration Loan Program from 1969 until 1977. He later established Douglas W. Young and Associates, where he acted as a consultant for development in rural areas of California, with a special focus on helping low and middle-income families.

Doug also served his nation and community through his efforts to advance the values and principles he believed in. He was a member of the Yolo County Republican Central Committee and volunteered many hours for the cause he was committed to and the like-minded individuals who sought elected office to uphold his cherished principles. He will be missed greatly by his family, his friends, his colleagues, and the countless people he affected in a positive and enduring way. I was proud to call him a friend, and privileged to watch him serve others with great sincerity and passion.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. HERGER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, we have all been moved by the reports and images of last week's horrendous earthquake in Haiti; and we were reminded just this morning of the dire situation that country is facing as reports have surfaced of a major aftershock.

Throughout our history, Americans have been eager to help others recover from the devastation of wars and natural disasters in faraway places. Once again, we have seen the compassion and generosity of the American people displayed front and center in the Haiti relief effort, including an outpouring of real-time donations through cell phones and the Internet. While many of our own U.S. citizens are struggling to find work and to make ends meet, it is only fitting that we should provide immediate tax relief for these charitable contributions.

This bill, which is sponsored by the bipartisan leadership of the Ways and Means Committee, as well as by the whips of both parties and by more than 150 Members from both sides of the aisle, would permit itemizers to treat Haiti-related charitable contributions made through the end of February as if they were made in 2009 rather than in 2010. This would allow itemizers the opportunity to claim the charitable deductions under 2009 returns, which most taxpayers are required to file by April 15 of this year, instead of waiting until they file their 2010 returns.

It would also permit taxpayers who use cell phone text messages to contribute to the relief effort to use their phone bill as a record of their donation. This is a commonsense bipartisan idea, and it deserves the support of every Member. I urge an ``aye'' vote.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).

I yield the gentlewoman an additional 1 minute.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to our whip, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor).

Madam Speaker, I now yield 3 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).

Madam Speaker, in closing, I'd simply say that this is a good bill. It reflects the generosity of the American people in responding to a horrific disaster, and I urge all Members to vote ``aye.''

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

General Leave

Madam Speaker, President Obama and congressional Democrats have maxed out the national credit card with reckless spending, and they're back for more.

The American people are tired of overspending and tired of policies that have done nothing to lift us out of this economic downturn. Democrats rammed through a so-called stimulus that left us asking: Where are the jobs? Now congressional Democrats are asking for more money that they will turn around later this afternoon and spend on another stimulus bill that spends even more on failed policies.

Madam Speaker, it's time for Congress to say ``no'' to endless debt that is an albatross around the neck of our Nation's economy and future generations. Vote ``no'' on this increased debt limit.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the Republican Conference Chair, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence).

(Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)