be lost. obviously, right honorable friend will agree that this is a severe low to the liverpool city region. will he give me an assurance the government will do everything that it can to secure the long-term future of it? >> mr. speaker, any redundancies and loss of jobs will be regretted. and those losing jobs will be back to work. i want to secure a future and we have offered jlr of 2 million of what our carbon land rovers at this plant. they would be produced there. so we are trying to do what we can to replace lost jobs, and i will work with him, 'cause i know he does a great deal in this area, and others in the region to make sure that jobs come to hillwood. >> thank you, mr. speaker.

>> our armed forces are fundamental to counter state-led threats. this was made clear in an update that we published last month. >> i'm relieved to hear that. before iraq and afghanistan, we were spending 2.5% of g.d.p. ensuring against potential threats in other industrial countries. as we are still spending 2.5% despite the additional cost of the counterinsurgency campaigns and including the contribution of the treasury reserve, which of these two major military roles is currently underfunded 'cause one of them must be? >> mr. speaker, i have to say to them that defense spending has continued to rise in real terms in contrast to what happened in the last years of the conservative government. i have to say also that in addition to the defense budget, we put aside 14 billion for the campaigns in iraq and afghanistan. and i want to tell him that our

budget in cash terms is still the second largest in the world. >> order. statement secretary. >> order. >> from london, you've been watching prime minister's question time from the british house of commons aired live every wednesday while parliament is in session at 7:00 am eastern. you can see this again sunday night at 9:00 pm eastern and pacific on c-span. you can also watch recent video including programs dealing with other international issues.

>> how is c-span funded? >> taxpayer dollars?

>> private donations? >> public support? >> consumer funded, i guess? >> viewer funded, i don't know. >> private contributions? >> how is c-span funded? 30 years ago, america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative, no government mandate, no government money. >> now house speaker nancy pelosi and other democrats talking about healthcare legislation that was sent to the full house yesterday. president obama has called on both the house and senate to pass healthcare legislation before the august recess. this is 40 minutes. >> good afternoon. this is indeed a happy day for today we are introducing historic and transformative legislation that will benefit all americans. america's affordable health choices act.

it is a health insurance act for the great middle class of america. i'd like to thank our committee chairs for the work that they have done to ensure quality, affordability and accessibility for america's middle class. and in doing so, i'm joining the president of the united states and the praise that he heaped upon them earlier today when the bill was filed. i'd like to acknowledge the great work of chairman waxman of the energy and commerce committee, chairman rangel of the ways and means committee and to all of their staffs who have worked so hard to make this day possible. i especially want to acknowledge chairman dingell. i said to chairman dingell just before we came in here, are you happy? isn't this a great day? he said i'm happy and my father would be happy too. chairman dingell, every year in his long service in congress has introduced universal healthcare legislation. and now he is the lead author on

this historic legislation that will take us to that place. thank you, senator dingell. [applause] >> i'd also like to acknowledge some other members of the leadership who are here. mr. hoyer, whom you'll be hearing from leader. an important leader in organizing this effort. mr. clyburn our whip, mr. larson the chair of the caucus. mr. van holland who wears two leaders of the hats. in addition to that, the chairs of the subcommittee who worked very hard on this bringing their extensive knowledge and experience in healthcare and healthcare insurance reform. chairman starks of the ways and means committee and chairman andrews and have i acknowledged everyone? okay.

this has been such a joint effort. over the coming weeks, congress will continue working with president obama to make healthcare reform work for middle class americans. this bill is a starting point and a path to success to lower costs to consumers and business guess to give greater choice to americans including keeping your plan, your doctor or plan if you like them, better quality of care, putting doctors not insurance companies back in charge and to provide stability and peace of mind that you cannot be denied care or coverage for a preexisting condition. this is so important to the middle class. who cannot be denied care for a preexisting job if you lose a job, change jobs or start a business you still have healthcare. this is very true to the entrepreneurial spirit of america. inaction is not an option for us. that is why we're still on schedule to do what we have planned to vote on this legislation before we leave for the august recess.

i'm now pleased to introduce the distinguished chairman of the energy and commerce committee, and i do so with admiration and appreciation for his greater leadership in bringing us to where we are today along with the other chairs. mr. waxman. and you can applaud for mr. waxman. >> no, no, no. [applause] >> thank you very much, madam speaker. this legislation is landmark legislation and this is a defining moment for our country. we are about to undertake what has eluded so many presidents and congresses for far too long. and that is the objective of getting good quality, affordable healthcare insurance to every american. the president was elected with the mandate that he undertake this very ambitious goal, and he outlined how he wanted to achieve it. by building on the system that we have now. by giving people the option to

keep the insurance that they have if they like it. and to allow the seniors to stay in medicare but improve that system. but for those who have no insurance or for those small businesses who cannot afford insurance, our legislation will allow people to choose an insurance option. and i emphasize the word "choice" because that choice and competition is one very formidable way to hold down the cost. we are trying to achieve a number of different objectives but holding down the cost in healthcare is certainly by far our number one objective. the system is unsustainable. we cannot continue to put more and more money into healthcare, especially, when you recognize that this country spends more money on healthcare than any

other western industrialized nation and yet we have 46 to 50 million people uninsured and more and more stories of people who have insurance that doesn't work for them when they need that insurance to kick in and pay for their medical bills. we can't afford it as a country paying for medicare and medicaid. we can't afford it for those who are buying insurance. it's going up every year. we can't afford it for governments at the local level that help pay for healthcare as well. so our system is dysfunctional and this legislation, we hope, will bring a system together that will serve all of the american people and all those who provide care for those people. the legislation that we're rolling out today is an improvement on the draft that was released a couple of weeks ago. it reflects the input for many

of our colleagues. we have a number of items from making sure that we protect small businesses to making sure that people have more options. and a number of other changes that you'll be able to look at when you see the draft. this draft, which is the product of the three committees, will now be presented to each of our three committees and in our committee on the energy and commerce, we will work through some of the differences we have among the members both democrats and republicans. with the objective that we are going to get a bill. we cannot allow this issue to be delayed. we cannot put it off again. we, quite frankly, cannot go home for a recess unless the house and the senate both pass bills to reform and restructure

our healthcare system. and that is what we're going to be doing in the next three weeks. accomplishing these goals in the house and the senate so that we can get together and work out one final piece of legislation for the president to sign. i'm pleased we've had such strong leadership from our speaker, nancy pelosi, and our majority leader steny hoyer, and our whip, jim clyburn and others in our caucus. and we are -- we are moving forward. we are going to -- we are going to accomplish what many people have felt wouldn't come in our lifetime but we're going to make it happen in the house these next few weeks and in the congress by the end of this year to the president's desk for his signature. i'm pleased now to yield the floor to the very distinguished chairman of the ways and means

committee, a key participant in the legislation that we are rolling out today, chairman charlie rangel. [applause] >> thank you. madam speaker, i almost feel like i'm one of the luckiest people in the world. to have stayed here so long to wait for a president that has made a personal and political commitment to provide healthcare for all of america. to go through so many speakers and to have such a dynamic speaker to be working with to bring all these indian chiefs together and to read from one page for america. to let people know that those 50 million people that don't have insurance, they're getting healthcare but to remind america that they're paying for it. the doctors are charging for it, the hospitals are charging for it. the health insurance people are charging for it. the rates are just soaring. there's not anybody in america that's an adult that doesn't have some horror story about

somebody that lost their lives, lost their homes, lost their jobs and lost their insurance and just to think these people will be able to walk any place with their families knowing that they are insured. to have the self-esteem to know that such a large part of their disposable income will not have to be for insurance. that our government will be here to effectively compete to have people be able to make decisions based on what's good for them and their families and to know that we're going to provide the providers there so that people can now look into the future and know that if they really just don't want to make a buck, but want to do what doctors are supposed to do, to serve people and to cure people and to prevent illness, how lucky we are to be in a congress with such leadership and to have a president that's going to give us an opportunity that if we do nothing else, we can say we were part of the team that brought universal health to the people of the united states of america.

i want to really thank pete stark as old as he is he spent so much time on this subject matter. he keeps calling me dad. but chairman miller has been a dynamic person to work with. this whole team and we have promised the president, we promised the american people that we've been challenged and we will present and thank you for giving us an opportunity. [applause] >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. this is a very exciting day. for so many of us who have been involved in public service and in the congress of the united states, most of our lives, to stand here today with the introduction of our legislation that will embrace the desires of the american people, to have real healthcare, real coverage, real affordability and real access and to stand here and with the introduction of legislation that meets the goals that are articulated by

president obama to lower the cost, to preserve choice and to expand access to care. our bill addresses america's economic and fiscal health and its medical well-being of all our people. let me be specific about what our bill means to the average american. our bill will lower costs for healthcare. there will be no more co-pays or deductibles for preventive care. no more rate increases because of preexisting conditions or because of your gender or where you happen to work. there will be an annual cap on your out-of-pocket expenses. group rates will be available for individuals who have to purchase insurance for themselves. guaranteed an affordable oral hearing and vision care for our children. our bill will provide choice of care. you can keep your doctor and your current plan if you like them. your choices will be protected and enhanced. you will have access to a wide variety of choices for quality and affordable plans including a

high quality, public health insurance option to compete with the private insurers. our bill will increase the quality of care. you and your doctor will make healthcare decisions, not your insurance company. more family doctors and nurses will be able to enter the work force, helping to guarantee your access to better treatment that meets your needs. mental healthcare will be covered. our bill will offer stability and a peace of mind. never again will you go without health insurance. you will have the peace of mind of knowing that you will never lose coverage. if you lose your job, you switch jobs, you start a business you will keep your coverage. you will never be denied because of those preexisting conditions. and you won't -- and you won't face any lifetime limits on how much insurance companies will pay meaning it never again will you be one treatment away from bankruptcy. and our reforms will cover 97%

of americans by 2019. beginning this week or beginning tomorrow and the next day, our committeeless mark up and our respective areas of jurisdiction. our democratic colleagues are already busy drafting amendments to the bill. and we will continue to improve our bill by working with those with constructive ideas and we'll endeavor to satisfy the many competing demands that naturally accompany a bill of this scope and importance. we will in this year produce a bill that is fair and fully paid for, reduces costs, preserves choice and expands access for all americans. that was the charge that president obama gave this congress when he was sworn into office. it was the charge that the american people gave president obama when they voted for him in the election and this congress is delivering on that promise for the first time in the history of this country. [applause] >> excuse me.

chairman john dingell worked on this longer and harder than any of us. [applause] >> thank you very much, chairman miller. madam speaker, our leader, my colleagues, chairman waxman, chairman rangel, and our leader, mr. hoyer. i am proud indeed to be here with my great colleagues who have worked so hard on this undertaking. and i'm delighted to be a participant in this great undertaking. as mentioned this is the first time we have gotten to this point. we're going to cover every american. we're going to see to it that they have choice. we're going to see to it that not only are the humanitarian concerns of people with regard to healthcare met but that an economic calamity will be headed off because of the work that has been done today. this is a good bill.

it is a uniquely american solution to address the insecurities in healthcare felt by the american people. the burden of cost of healthcare has been placed on the economy. and the competitive disadvantages experienced by our businesses will be removed. today it marks a major step in this long journey of ours. however, it is not the last step. and while we greet this day with delight, we know that we have a lot of work before us. my old dad would be pleased. he started this out in 1943 with harry truman. and we have been working on it ever since. and madam speaker, i want to tell you how pleased we are that we can finally say the house is going to consider this and that we're going to pass it. and i look forward to working with my colleagues in the caucus and the larger house of representatives to solving the greatest single humanitarian and healthcare problem that's faced by our people.

this nation has a proud history of protecting our elders, our newborns, our sick, and those who are the weakest and least capable of taking care of themselves. we created social security during a time of economic clalacl calamity. some of our greatest acts of compassion have come at the most difficult and trying of moments. we're working to accomplish something that is greater than us as members of congress. and something which must, should and i hope will transcend partisan divides and bickering. this has been tried by many presidents and congresses before. however, this time is different. this time we will be successful. this time we must be successful. this american solution of ours will help those needing care, gain access to the finest

medical care in the world. and there's an interesting thing about this country. we have the finest medical care but a lot of our people can't afford it and don't get it. we're going to cure that. not only do we have a chance to do the right thing for our and about our people, but also for our economy. the high cost of healthcare is not only a part of today's economic woes but it will cause a still greater problem in the years to come because if you draw in the line -- draw in the graph two lines, the first being the cost of medical care, and the second the gross domestic product, the two of them will cross sometime around 2070 or 2080. we have an opportunity then to prevent the next great economic catastrophe. but we must learn from the current economic crisis that we've inherited. to protect the health and the well-being of our citizens and our country and our help to our

businesses to remain competitive, we must be bold. we must be strong. and we must respond to the challenge that we have before us. and that we're confronted now on behalf of our nation's citizens. and we have to address the problem, cure it and pass this legislation now. i'm proud to be a part of it. [applause] >> and i have the privilege of introducing the great majority leader who is going to lead us in that undertaking, mr. hoyer. [applause] >> before i speak, i would be pleased to yield to my friend, the whip, if he would like to say something. >> thank you very much. >> he's going to get the votes. >> madam speaker, congratulations to you.

for your single-minded focus, your purposeful direction of all of us to work together to accomplish this day. six decades we've been trying to make sure that every american had the availability of quality, affordable healthcare. six decades. there's been a dingell in every decade. [laughter] [applause] >> john dingell, we owe a great gratitude to your father. because your father was a leader on healthcare, and you have been a leader on healthcare. to henry waxman to charlie rangel and to charge miller who have worked together in an unprecedented fashion, who have said, yes, each of us have jurisdiction, yes, each of us

could produce a product. but we believe that this issue is so important that we must come together to produce a product. a product for the american people. president obama, as speaker pelosi mentioned today, issued a very strong statement how pleased this product is being put on the table and that it will be marked up later this week and perhaps into next week. we enter a process of improvement. as henry waxman said this is not the original document that was introduced or put on the table as a draft. it has been improved. it has responded to the views and concerns of not only those members of congress but those outside congress. those who are users of healthcare and those who are providers of healthcare. as chairman waxman has indicated. they're going to be continuing to consider ways and means to improve this legislation.

as the president indicates, this is an excellent work for the american people. it seeks to bring costs down. and it will bring costs down. not just costs down for government. but more importantly costs down for individuals and families. who are being priced out of the market. who understand they've got healthcare now but are worried about losing it. that's what this issue is about. and i've had some americans say, don't mess with my healthcare. we heard what they said. and if they like what they have, they keep what they have. this does not mandate any changes and they will have choice of doctor and hospital. this does not in any way undermine but what it does do, it gives them the security that if they should lose their job or their economic circumstances should change and they can't afford health insurance, that they used to have, now have, this ensures that they will have that insurance. so as we proceed in this

process, let me say to you as the majority leader who's talked to you a lot about our schedule, we're on schedule. we're going to be paid for. i don't know whether we'll be underbudget but we'll be on budget. we're going to pay for this bill. we're not going to add additional debt to the american people. and we will produce a product that will give to the american people a sense of security and well-being, for them, their husbands, their wives and their children that they so desperately want. the overwhelming majority of the american public says, we want health reform. john mccain said, i want health reform. hillary clinton said, i want health reform. and barack obama said, i want health reform. and the american people overwhelmingly elected him president of the united states. and i want to tell you in closing, i've talked to almost every member of our caucus and there is not a member of the

caucus who is not for healthcare reform. to making sure that we bring costs down, make healthcare affordable and available to all and make sure that they have the quality that america has to offer. in closing, let me congratulate you, john dingell. no one here has kept the faith longer and more focused than you have. god bless you, sir. [applause] >> thank you, madam speaker. >> all right. i thank all of you and again, join you in saluting the great leadership of president barack obama. without that leadership, this day would not be possible. more importantly, a day when he signs the bill into law making tremendous progress for the american people on this important issue that is relevant to their economic and physical well-being. leader hoyer mentioned and i associate him with his praise of mr. dingell once again. chairman dingell and his father

saying the last six decades every one of those decades has had a dingell and that's for sure. every decade has had a kennedy as well. i'm so pleased that patrick kennedy is here again. his eyes lit up when george miller mentioned mental health. [applause] >> and as we gather here, the help committee is my understanding is that today they will be passing the bill in the united states and at the h.e.l.p. committee. so please give our thanks and best wishes to your father, patrick. because he too was so important making this day possible. .. the

chairman on that. we also see ourselves with any additional cost cutting weekend do, we want to squeeze every dollar we have out of the system to have more savings to reduce a need for revenue. we will have a strong, level playing field public auction, many of the concerns raised were well taken. i will yield to mr. west. >> the blue dogs, or the democrats from the rural areas who have specific fiscal conservative point of view that many of us share, are playing a very constructive role. i thought there letter last week was an outstanding letter,

setting out the issues that concern them and concern all of us. we are going to have to work through those issues. is not a correct statement to say they are against the public auction, they want some changes in the public auction. some would refer not to have a public auction. we have to bring everybody together. a large part of our democratic caucus wants a public auction as does the president of the united states. their main focus, i welcome this, is to reduce the costs in this legislation. in that regard we are going to work with them to achieve those goals and to get a bill that all of us can support. the democratic party, they have different parts of it, wishing for different aspects of the problem and we have to come together, compromise, and work out our differencess and stand behind legislation that will

accomplish this important goal. >> the chairman is absolutely right. i want to reiterate for you, when i articulated that every member of the caucus wants to see health reform enacted that included all 52 members. the blue dogs have a perspective like all of us. it is not unanimous but a very significant focus which is shared by them. but because they are in favor of the objective, i expect and have seen them working very hard to get to a place where we would create a consensus for a significant majority for this bill before we leave here in august. i have great confidence in the chairman, all 3 chairmen bringing together a bill, one bill that will enjoy all the support. >> we will be bringing to the floor a legislation by barren hill, george miller, who else is

a co-chair, peter welch and bobby scott. , the democratic caucus adopted, we thank you for your leadership, we are all committed to fiscal soundness, we thank them. >> can you tell us what the total estimate is, give us a couple examples of where you change the bill from a few weeks ago? >> one of the things we had concern with, the adversity that exists throughout this great country, people have different needs, different ways of providing health care and not all of it appears to be equitable. as the deep interest and concern that some members have, we

directed they would be, an investigation, a study to see where the best medicine is being given in the most efficient way, the most efficient price, we set aside $10 billion to make sure -- take care of any inequity that exists that would be handled by the federal administration. many reforms, as a result of this, in the bill, people didn't know where to find them. we had to bring those together and the lot of people in small business, we are able to change the threshold, to provide credit, all of the small business as well as what many can't afford to provide care for and provide incentives to do that. many of the concerns in the bill, we brought them up and we are pretty stern that we have a long way to go. we have a lot of concern that

people have had. >> the congressional budget office works its own measures in a process that is laborious for many of us, slower than we would like. as a matter of fact, on our committee we will have a bipartisan briefing to try to understand how they come to some of their conclusions. some of our members get perplexed when we have important preventive services that are scored as saving any money. the idea, people stay alive longer and collect more social security even though we don't have to pay for treatment of diseases that we can prevent, but i want to go into that when we meet soon. i don't know if we have a

specific estimate, but we will have one very soon, and it is going to be in the context of what we expected all along, that we are going to hold down the cost, that is going to be used to pay for a lot of this bill, and we have need for revenue raisers as well, which the ways and means committee is providing because it is within their jurisdiction to help us meet that obligation. >> a follow-up on that, you probably have some idea about this plan, unveiling this bill to give up some idea? >> i wouldn't want to speculate about exact amounts, because cbo is going to come up with the official score that we abide by. we should get that very soon and

share it with everybody. >> the bill will be paid for. >> they say the president's only propose legislation, in this case, what do you see as the role of the president in helping get votes in the house and perhaps in helping to pull the senate for your vision in the house bill? >> the president's leadership is essential to the success of this legislation. the american people call for this in the election, the president is called upon by congress to pass this legislation for health care, lower-cost, improved quality, better choices to improve the quality of life of the american people. lowering costs is essential to this. as the president said, health-care reform is entitlement reform. a great deal of our fiscal

health is dependent on this bill being paid for with this prevention and wellness initiative to take down the cost of health care for medicare, medicaid, lowering the national debt, the business is a priority for all of us, a priority for the president. the president has made a statement about what this means to the health of the american people and to our economy. this is about our economy as well. is leader should have gotten us to where we are and will be essential as we go forward. his leadership will continue to bring us together. we have our three tenors who have worked in harmony in the house, we know that that harmony will continue as we move to conference with the senate, the president's role be essential, speaking to many audiences, speaking to the american people about this, speaking to the congress in general, speaking to

individual members, speaking to the aspirations of the american people to have this problem behind them as we go forward. >> i got my answer. what is your question? [laughter] >> what should be held in reserve because the recession is over, reducing the deficit, the only way to reduce health costs, dealing with basic risks rather than every little chapter. >> as we mentioned, the changes in this proposal compared to the original draft include something on small businesses to give more small businesses an exemption, to place a greater burden on them, and we do that by 250,000

below completely exempted, 250,000 to 400,000, we have a sliding scale. the original draft was $100,000 a payroll. the second big change relates to the pharmaceutical area. there are ideas of how to hold down the costs from the pharmaceuticals side of the expenditures, we are having our bill, a requirement that the windfall pharmaceutical industry received from categorizing people in medicaid as well as medicare, medicare instead of medicaid and losing the rebate that we use to get, that rebate will be reinstated and the money will be used to close, helped clothes that don't outpoll that seniors face on their

pharmaceuticals. i am not completely ignore what you asked, we bring down health care with pilot projects from organizations that will organize the delivery of care to reduce the individual fees for services that some people claim gives an incentive for more services and more fees. we will have accountability organizations, greater combination of how to manage the delivery of care, and we continue to work on other ways to hold down costs. having said that, we cannot hold the cost down sufficiently in health care to do all that we want to do. so we are going to look to increasing revenues to help pay for this major reform.

these revenue increases are targeted at making sure that health care is affordable. because providing someone with the opportunity to finally get a health insurance policy when in the past they have been discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition or excluded because the insurance company thought that might be a person who could raise the possibility of more costs for their treatment and exclude coverage, we can't just have insurance reform without making health insurance affordable by assisting people in buying their insurance coverage. and that is going to require the expenditures not only by cuts in the system but also by bringing in greater revenues. chairman rangel will talk about the revenue side. you would get an estimate today of the total cost of this bill.

given speculation that the range -- i think most people expect the range is going to be an amount cbo will fill in later. [laughter] i will yield to charlie rangel. >> the congressional budget office is not our friend in terms of answering a question like that. because they don't record the actual savings that people would feel in their pocketbooks, in their bank accounts, in their everyday conduct of trying to get health care paying off bills. it is safe to say as a guideline that when those people get paid to have stakeholders in this, can come together at the white house and say that this bill over ten years will save the american people $2 trillion,

those are real dollars even though they cannot be scored by the congressional budget office. i am satisfied that our country, our economy, individuals, saving money by the investment made now. >> thank you all very much. [inaudible conversations] >> house republicans respond to the democrats's proposed health-care bill. >> a quick intro. i am going to do that. all right. we are pleased to be here.

again, we have a 1,000 page bill that none of us have seen that apparently we will start markups on this week. i noticed they hit all the points they know you want, if you like what you have, you can keep it, there's going to be competition and choice, and the other interesting, a number of changes we will all be able to look at when we see the draft. that might have been my favorite quote. what we really have here is a bill that without any question will kill jobs, limit access to health care, raise taxes and lead to a government takeover of health care. this government option is such a good thing, the committee, assuming we have a markup in energy and commerce and we can have amendments, one of the amendments i intend to offer is that every elected federal officials will have to take the government auction. if this is such a good deal for the american people it should be good enough for members of

congress and the president and vice president, and we will see how that goes in committee. we might be able to add that to the bill. we have three ranking members here who are on a moving schedule, they have a bill to mark up or not and we will see when they have that bill in committee, and following the with, mr. klein will talk about what will happen, but for our side, having leadership is important as we apparently are going to be quickly forced into voting on a bill we may or may not have adequate time to look at. >> good afternoon. no question we are in unprecedented economic times. every community across this country, most families are concerned about their job. what we see before us is a political move by this administration and the majority

here in attempting to deliver on a political mission to overhaul our health care and allow us to lurch into a government controlled environment. everybody, every man, woman and child in this country is impacted by health care reform and there is no need, while we are witnessing unprecedented hemorrhaging of jobs in this country, there is no need for us to be rushing in to passage of legislation before the end of this month, at the potential cost of millions of jobs. we stand here ready to work with the other side, our ranking members are here, very hopeful that we can be constructive in the discussion around health care reform so that we understand and are given an opportunity to talk with our constituents, talk with the doctors and health-care providers to make sure that we

are doing the right thing that affects so many americans. i would like to present the ranking member of the energy commerce committee, joe martin. >> thank you. theoretically, i am supposed to be in a briefing with energy commerce members with cbo right now. obviously that briefing is not occurring because this morning the cbo informed my staff that they still didn't have a bill which they could score so there was no reason. democrats have released their bill. is on the image ecommerce committee website, irish the summit is also on the education work force website. the bill is out there. i can tell you won't be the bill actually attempt to mark up. because they don't have the votes for it. they will continue to negotiate even as we move forward sporadically and haphazardly with the process. the reason they don't have the

votes is because their bill kills health-care as we know it today in america. there is an employer tax, there are all kinds of mandates on a side issue, they eliminate the position on hospitals, which in those states that allow them, have been chosen by the marketplace as one of the most efficient and quality ways to get health care. i plan to ask chairman waxman to give us time to digest the bill, to create some bipartisan amendments. i was very impressed with the blue dog letter that was sent last week to the democratic leadership, and there are number of discussions across party lines with a number of members of the blue dogs to see if there

might be some bipartisan amendments. healthcare is too big and issue to simply try to rush this through like another bill. i think the democrats learned two weeks ago, they were successful in rushing through the cap and tax climate change bill that there is immediately by remorse by members on their side that were forced to vote for that bill. i think some of those members that are experiencing buyer's remorse do not want to have to turn around in the next week or two and vote for another massive invasion of socialized -- socialization into the private marketplace. the good news is the latest version of the bill is out. the bad news for the american public is it is bad medicine. hopefully this is going to have a very short shelf life and won't last much longer.

>> thank you, dave camp from michigan. >> this bill has massive spending and massive tax increases to cover the spending in the bill and the most difficult one is this surtax which we believe will fall, half of that will be hit on small business, two out of three manufacturers could pay higher taxes under this bill. the employer mandates will literally hit every -- according to the cbo, will be passed along to each individual. that will violate the president's pledge that people under $250,000 won't pay higher taxes because they will pay higher taxes or lose their jobs, and five million may lose their jobs because of the employer mandate. given that the national unemployment rate is at 9.5, moving toward ten%, mich. my home state, has a 14% unemployment rate. the ideas that you spend more in the name of health care is one that we need to reverse.

what we want to see is that the cost of health care. we have a proposal that would do that in three ways. you never hear them talk about the duplication of medicine, the junk lawsuits and the cost that that involves. there is a way that we can be reducing cost of health care by addressing that issue. secondly, why not have small business owners and individuals have the same tax incentives and the same benefit of the laws so they can pull together and create insurance and lower-cost and why don't we do something about the waste, fraud and abuse in medicare which is billions of dollars? for that reason, the taxes are onerous, the taxes are owners during a recession, they're going to fall on families, small-business is, manufacturers and they're going to cost us millions of jobs. there is another way, i have laid that out and i believe in

the approach we are going to take and as this debate move that had we will try to push these ideas in committee and on the floor. thank you. >> i am john klein from minnesota, newly assigned as ranking member. we have a pretty full plate since i stepped up, not the least of it is this health care bill. like the others here i have been waiting since friday for it to come out, it will come out on friday so we could mark it up tuesday and will come out monday so we could market up wednesday, i have agreed with chairman miller that in the education labor committee, we will start with our opening statements tomorrow. the reason i want to do that or agreed to do that is we need the time on thursday to be able to offer amendments and be able to debate them and discuss them and introduce our ideas of because, as has been stated to this

point, our ideas are not included in this legislation. we have a blank piece of paper where republicans and democrats were invited in to write a bill, that is not how this has been done, like everything else in this congress, as the speaker said, we want it more like a bill, that is what we are dealing with now. we are going to do our very best to get our ideas on the table and get our amendments considered. there are so many things in this 1,018 pages it turns out, that we had a hearing a week or so ago, on a hundred fifty-two page discussion graph. now, magically, that has grown by 200 pages and we are trying to understand what is in that growth. one thing we know is is going to create new federal bureaucracy, a thing called a health choices administration, who has a very powerful health choices commissioner. i guess that commissioners kind

of like a czar, i am not sure. this is an entity that will have the government making the rules, playing the game, and refereeing it. this is not a level playing field, this is not what the american people want, we're very concerned about the employer mandate, we are looking at that under our jurisdiction. in short, we are very concerned that what we are going to do with this legislation is pushed out over 1 hundred million americans from the insurance that they have, that they like, and push them into a government program. we have a lot of work to do coming up, the american people deserve more time, they deserve to have other input, they deserve a better product. we have a lot of doctors in congress, many of them in the recall of the -- republican

congress. one is my friend and classmate, dr. michael burgess of texas. >> i spent the last year talking to providers across this country, my state and my area as well and provided concern about what they see the congress doing. mr. blunt mentioned choice. the competition, from a provider's perspective, competition is pretty thin. the choice is nonexistent. if you wish to continue to see your medicare patients you will have to accept the new government option. the payment rate for the new government auction will be higher than medicare for the first three years and then good luck, you fall off a cliff. it will be set by the czar of health care created by this bill and no provider out there right now trusts this congress and this government to do much of anything that is in anyone's best interest. it is critical providers follow this discussion, this debate, they need to weigh in with their

members, we need to hear from you. >> questions? >> can you talk about increasing unemployment? >> i want dave to follow this up. there are 22 ways to finance this, one is the clear surtax on small business, over 50% of the people will pay the surtax, odors or investors in small business and the other is cuts in medicare and medicaid, neither of those are going to be helpful to the american people but the increased tax on small business will clearly kill jobs as will any mandate on business that currently can't afford to offer insurance but will be forced to offer is at as a free what was it to keep the door open. there's only one way to pay for that, that is to cut back the jobs you have for the growth you

have. >> you are correct as costs go up, it is harder to provide jobs. the other part of this bill is it doubles the surtax in 2013 automatically. the rates we see now will actually double. the two lower rates. that is actually going to make it more difficult for small-businesses to recover. if you use dr. christina roker's analysis which we have done in the ways and means committee, that is where five million jobs will be lost because of the cost of the employer mandate. >> the alternative, just wondering when we will see legislation, how you plan to pay for your health care bills. >> this question of how do you pay for this gets it wrong. what we want to do is get costs out of health-care. what they are doing is saying how can we spend more, and find

the revenue to pay for that. we have a number of ideas we are going to be offering in committee, our role is to amend this vehicle that is on a fast track being jammed through this whole process, not getting the american people an opportunity to look at it. you will see our ideas come forward and the only way we can do that is to amend this bill on thursday when it comes through the committee. current >> thank you all. ..

colleagues who are going to speak on this bill and give you their view of why it's the right way to go. i believe we have the ranking member of the commerce meeting, mr. barton, who will speak. we also have marsha blackburn. we have trent franks of arizona, phil gingrey of arizona. i believe we'll be joined by rob bishop and perhaps others. we are today announcing the introduction of the improving healthcare for all americans act.

the improving healthcare for all americans act takes a radically different approach than the bill that you have heard about and seen discussion drafts of from the majority party. this bill reforms healthcare from the bottom up. it reforms healthcare by empowering individuals and putting them in control of their own healthcare. now, there's some key elements to this legislation that i will highlight very quickly. then i'll let the others speak and then i'll be happy to take your questions. but the bottom line is, this reforms healthcare from the bottom up, it does so by empowering individuals. it puts patients first. this legislation is patient-focused. i would begin by asking you, when was the last time that putting the government in control of something resulted in it costing less? i think the answer is, when you put the government into something, it doesn't costs less it always costs more.

the democrats are proposing putting the government in control of healthcare. we believe that means it will cost more and ultimately lead to rationing. this bill puts people in charge of their own healthcare. let me go through five key pieces. number one, first provision of the bill is if you like what you have you can keep it. that's because 83% of americans currently like the healthcare they have. the important part of this provision is most americans right now get their healthcare from their employer. this empowers them to say, i want to keep my current healthcare and i want to keep the exclusion from income taxes that makes that healthcare possible. if you like it, you can keep it. second, it covers every single american and gives every american choice and coverage. what that means is that every american that does not have a healthcare plan and every american that has a healthcare plan from their employer but does not like that plan can go out and acquire their own

healthcare plan on the same tax advantaged bases that employers get. what that means is that if you pay income taxes you can get a advance. for those in need, it means you get a government stipend that will let you buy your own healthcare. so every american gets choice and coverage. third, it provides pooling americans and group plan choices for every american. right now you can only get into a plan, a group plan, where costs are restrained if you have employer-provided coverage. if you do not have employer-employed coverage, you can't get a group plan. the only group you can join is your employers group. this bill says -- and by the way, what that means is if you don't have an employer-provided plan, you buy in what's called the individual market, which is phenomenally expensive. this bill says to all small

employers and all individuals who aren't a part of a group plan already, they can join a new pooling mechanism. it says that groups like churches, alumni associations, trade associations, and other civic groups can sponsor a healthcare plan and you could then pick. i want to take my employer's plan or i want to take the plan of the university of arizona alumni association. i want to make my employers plan or i want to take the plan offered by the daughters of the american revolution plan. i want to take my employer's plan or the kwannis plan or the rotary international sponsored plan. there are many other group plans for to you pick from giving you much more choice. fourth, preexisting conditions are covered and chronic conditions, chronic illnesss are covered at affordable rates. that is done through both reinsurance pools and high risk pools. no one in america who becomes sick should have their income threatened or lose the ability

to acquire healthcare at a reasonable cost because they became sick or have a chronic condition. and so through high risk pools and reinsurance mechanisms, those people will be able to go buy healthcare at a cost equal to what every other american buys. and that cost is bourne by all americans. again, the mechanism for controlling cost in this bill is from the bottom-up, not the top-down. it creates patient choice. it does not expand the government. there's lots more things i could say about it but i'm joined by at that distinguished group of individuals who care about healthcare reform. let me first begin with the ranking member of the commerce committee, mr. barton. >> thank you, congressman shadegg. one of the first tenets of medicine, the practice of medicine is to do no harm. i think our friends on the democratic side would be well to consider that as they unveil their latest version of their healthcare proposal later this afternoon. the proposal, as we expect it to

be and as it was last week would destroy the private insurance healthcare market in america within 5 to 10 years because of the mandates and the taxes and the penalties. this bill that is being unveiled today takes a different approach. it tries to use the power of the marketplace and the power of the individual making free choices to provide access to more americans through the pooling arrangement that congressman shadegg has alluded to, which i think is very, very important. and also by providing a tax credit for those individuals who don't work or they can get insurance. they can get a tax credit or they can join one of these pools. there are two big problems in the healthcare industry or healthcare market today. one is access.

the democrats try to provide access through government mandates and government plans. we're taking a different approach through individual choice and the pooling and things like that. and then the other big problem is cost containment. in fact, the polls show the cost containment is a bigger issue among most americans than access is. and again, while this bill doesn't directly handle the cost issue, the other alternatives that we're going to be putting out later this week does that through transparency and again, through individual choice, letting the marketplace work. we've got a basic balance point in the debate. do you believe in the power of individuals and the power of the market? or do you believe in the power of bureaucracy and the power of government? and today we're saying that we believe in the power of the individual and the power of the market. so i'm glad to be a part of this press conference. and i'll say one more thing.

the democrats' bill, if it's what we think it's going to be, is almost by definition a nonstarter. because it is not only one bridge too far. it is several bridges too far. just the large size of it alone is going to make it very difficult for the political body to digest. >> i'm pleased we're joined by our colleague from tennessee, marsha blackburn. >> thank you so much. and congressman shadegg, thank you for your leadership on the issue and thank you for the work that you have put into this on behalf of not only the republicans in our conference but the american people. as he said, my state of tennessee has been through this. we had the test case for clinton healthcare, which was ten care and it went in place in 1994 in

our state. and i can tell you from the experience that we had, the initial cost estimates are nothing compared to what the final cost turns out to be. and as congressman shadegg said, when have you ever heard the government come in and work with an industry or take over an industry or take over delivering services and it end up costing less? and that also applies to healthcare. the test case out there has ended up being what our democratic governor called a disaster. so i would just highlight that with all of you. the trillion dollar price tag on the democrats 1200-page bill would be simply a down payment. and i appreciate the fact that congressman shadegg has brought forward a bill that works with market forces in order to allow choice and options and retain ownership. not only on your health

insurance but also your healthcare decisions, not by the government but by the individual. i'm pleased that we are bringing this bill forward today and look forward to continuing to work with our ranking member and with the other members of the committee as we address this issue on behalf of the american people. >> thank you. one of the veterans of this struggle is one of the doctors, a member of the doctors healthcare caucus, dr. phil if i will gingrey, doctor? >> congressman shadegg, i really appreciate the opportunity to be with you talking about the improvement. healthcare for all americans act. let me make an analogy here. what the democrats in both the senate and the house appear to be doing is trying to build a 10,000 square foot house on three stories, but they don't have the money to really build a good house. so they're cutting corners here and there and they're stretching and they'll end up with a 10,000

square foot house on a shaky foundation, maybe a leaky roof. they can't heat it. they can't cool it and eventually it's going to come crashing down because of the tremendous cost, not just the 1 to $3 trillion to create it. but when you get beyond that 10-year window, god forbid, what congressman shadegg has done here and as i say, he has worked on this issue for so long -- i was elected in 2002 with some of my colleagues here on the dias as a physician member. my constituents thought i would know everything about healthcare and have all the answers and solutions but it didn't take me long to find up here like congressman shadegg and others, joe barton, our ranking member who have worked on healthcare for years and they know it. and they know of what they speak. this bill is maybe a 4,000-square foot house on one story. but it's built strong, with good foundation.

it puts a roof over people's heads. it protects them. it gives them that coverage that they need right now. it stops the hemorrhaging if you will. and we can go on and do things like electronic medical records and tort reform and insurance reform not rejecting people who have been in a plan for years and then lose their job, guaranteed accessibility there, if you will, in addition to these high risk pools that the congressman was talking about. so i'm really proud to support this legislation. it's simple. it's commonsense. and it'll work. >> thank you very much. we're joined by my colleagues rob bishop. >> if you think healthcare costs are high now, wait until it's free. one of the things upon which this bill is built is the concept of options that people

have. our entire life is based on options. i choose ice cream when i get 31 flavors from which to pick, there are 54 difficulties kinds of eggo waffles. the only place where options is not our life is government. the idea of a government program, a government plan that will be superseded in which will sell and which will tell us how to do things, when to do things and will supersede by a bureaucracy decisions made by a patient and a doctor is ludicrous. this is based on the right principles. principles of giving people choices, giving people options and dealing with it on a realistic basis. i'm very proud of what representative shadegg and those others who have worked on this bill have been able to do to give us a good, a very good and very solid starting point. >> great illustration of why i can't say at all, my colleague trent frank joined us as well. >> well, thank you. i've known john shadegg between 25 and 30 years. and in this issue, i would

suggest to you all that he has been important. not only has he understood the significance of the issue that it was coming to be a great consideration for the american people, but i think he essentially envisioned this day and i believe that his solution is a helpful and hopeful one. in about an hour you're going to see a very different idea put forward by democrats and it's going to be along the same lines that we've seen for the last six months. we've seen a government take-over of banking. we've seen a government take-over of the car industry. we've seen an $780 billion stimulus plan. we've seen pass through the house now a cap and tax that is the largest tax increase in the history of the human species. and it represents a totally different world view than really what america was founded completely so long ago. and it seems that the highway of history of our country has been littered with the wreckage of

socialist ideas that somehow believe that they could lower prices in a free market and it has never, ever worked. and i would offer only one example in recent history that is the most apropo. there was a time when government had quasi control of our telephone companies, the bell system and there was great outcry among liberals when we decided somehow we needed to break that monopoly up because it wasn't working. government wasn't doing a good job offering phone service. you had one old black phone with the cradle that the operator was always snotty with you when you talked to her -- tried to get the time. they wouldn't give you the time of day as it were because it was essentially government-run. and if you calculate what the costs today would be per minute, it would be around $3 per minute if we left that system in place but someone had the wisdom and say, no, america is different. we're founded on a different concept on that and that is free markets and free people doing the best things that only they

know how to do. and because of that, we now have blackberries that we can talk to anybody on the planet with. we can pull up a website and long distance is 3 cents a minute and that kind of innovation is the only hope for healthcare in america. even in a market system we're going to be overrun here because of some of the health trends in this country. but if we have the innovations that i think america can come up with and that will only exist in a private system that will completely be eradicated in the government system, there is hope in my mind. so with that, i thank john shadegg for what he is doing. i think he's on the right track, and i support his efforts wholeheartedly. >> and finally, one of the great leaders, great young leaders of the healthcare reform movement on our side, a gentleman who's done more to carry this issue forward recently than any of us -- i'm pleased to have dr. burgess with us.

doctor? >> don't get any ideas about the young stuff because trent was talking about testifies i remember when i went to practice indenton county i was on a party line. i would have to ask people if they would mind vacating lines. i really like this bill. i like the sensibility of this bill and the emphasis where it puts really the rubber meets the road in healthcare and that's where the patient and doctor interact in the treatment room or the operating room, the emergency room, what have you. you think about how our government has punished through the tax code someone who has the audacity to want their -- to own their own insurance policies. someone who wants to have a lodge attitudal relationship with their insurance outside of their place of employment and yes they can do it but it's going to cost them significantly more than someone who purchases insurance through their workplace. i like the way that this bill puts the responsibility, really gives the dollars to the patient and allows them to direct where the healthcare expenditures go.

and if nothing that we have looked at in any of the other proposals -- and i don't want to talk about the other side's stuff because this is john's moment. but nothing in that huge proposal that's coming out this afternoon really does anything to limit volume of health purchases except for perhaps putting some caps on physical therapy and radiology, but otherwise, we don't address the volume side at all. well, we can address and we will have to address the volume side one day by rationing. we've created a system that's too big to fail, if you will, with this government-run system that we're doing. if you give that purchasing power to the individual, i know from personal experiences as a physician and as a patient, as a family member, a patient's family member, you make much wiser decision business how those healthcare dollars are spent. in 1996 through 1997, i wanted to be one of the first ones on my block to own the new medical savings accounts as they came out. you may remember when those were first introduced, we were only going to have 750,000 of them

that were allowed and i was so fearful that i would arrive just in time to see the last one snapped up before i could get there. well, i didn't have to worry because only 30,000 of them were purchased. it was an excellent idea not just because i got to put money away in a medical ira, if i will, but the fact that i, not someone at the end of a telephone line at 1-800-california but i was able to decide where i went for my care and i directed those dollars and it puts a lot of power in the hands of the healthcare purchaser or the patient, if you will. i thank you, john, for doing this. i think it's a great step forward and i look forward to working with you in getting it passed. >> i want to thank all my colleagues. i know you have many questions you want to ask but very quickly before you go to those questions i want to make two quick points. if you'd hold that sign up right there -- many of us republicans are saying that we support legislation that says if you like it, you can keep it. and the president has been saying if you like it, you can keep it. but apparently the president isn't talking to the people drafting the house bill.

because this is section 102b1a of the tricommittee discussion draft and it makes it clear that your plan will disappear. some plans will disappear in year one but every plan will disappear by the end of five years. this was a direct quote by the end of the five-year period, a group health plan must meet the minimum benefit requirement under section 121. as you all are beginning to know from the discussion draft, i assume, they create a new healthcare advisory board. that healthcare advisory board is empowered to proscribe minimum benefit requirements for every plan in america. the chances that your employer's plan will meet what they proscribe i suggest are zero. so in five years, your plan's gone. the second point goes to the broader issue. i would suggest that most americans -- and i think this is very, very important. i would suggest that most

americans worry about one thing more than any other. the big c. cancer. it's a huge issue. before we embrace a healthcare reform, we ought to know the facts about cancer. here are those facts. the five-year survival rate for prostate cancer in the united states beats canada. it trounces europe, and it crushes england. so if you have prostate cancer before or if you're a male and might some day get it, if you get the democrats adopt a plan that looks like canada, europe or england you better ask how they're going to prove how that will put you in a better place. every husband in america worries about his wife getting breast cancer and every woman in america is concerned about breast cancer. here are the facts. breast cancer, five-year survival rates, better in the united states than canada, significantly better than

europe. even more significant better than england. do we really want to go to that kind of system? i think that's a fair question to ask and with that we'll be happy to answer your questions. yeah. >> i just want to talk -- ask for a minute. the democrats' proposal is a $540 billion -- or the tax increase in order to pay for it. and i asked steny hoyer this morning whether he thought that would hurt small businesses who often count their income in family or individuals. and he said he couldn't think of any that would be hurt. and i just want to ask you guys and your bill includes that but is that going to hurt job growth and recovery if that gets passed? >> i'll give you my answer in one sentence, absolutely, unquestionably and nobody can rationally believe otherwise. anybody else want to comment? >> so many of these small businesses file as subchapter s

or sole proprietors. so they are not c corp. and they are not paying the same individual tax rate which once the president obama lets the bush tax cuts expire in 2011 and then they add on this surcharge, you're talking about a marginal rate of up to 42% or higher and that's going to be hit right on the backs of so many of these small business men and women in this country who create most of the jobs. obviously, they're not creating too many under the economic stimulus bill. in fact, i think we lost 500,000 last month. so to put this on the back of that is absolutely unconscionable. >> i would just say from a business perspective, a lot of these have a medical background but to suggest this will not have an impact on the jobs. it will be added to all the other things that this administration has done. >> do you have any estimate of

how many 45, 47 million uninsured will be insured if this comes in a two-year period that this comes in? and what will it cost to subsidize the people who have to buy what you've described as an incredibly expensive individual policy or subsidize the high risk pool and where will that money come from? >> well, we have not had the bill scored. and i do not have an analysis of what impact it would have on the uninsured except that it provides coverage to every single american. so presumably all of those who are responsible when offered a chance to pick up the policy, we'll take it. it also is pretty evident that many of the uninsured in america are uninsured because of the cost. when i introduced my bill that would allow people to buy insurance across state lines, it was believed that would significantly reduce cost and it would have, i believe, allowed some 17 million americans to pick up coverage.

this bill, because it creates these new groups that people can join, i think will have an even more dramatic impact on cost so though i don't have an estimate from anybody else, i would estimate that it would eliminate at least half of the uninsured in america today and, of course, it would -- it has the potential of eliminating all of them. as for precise cost, we believe that the competition fostered by the bill will bring down costs significantly but i have not been able to have it scored. i am not in a position to get it scored. we believe there's substantial savings to be achieved when you add levels of competition that we're talking about in this bill and giving people many more choices. >> not to beat the example about telephony but the little guy in the mountains would not get phone service. we made special provision for those and now they have better telephone service than they ever

could have had under the government. >> could i answer? >> sure, please. >> congressman shadegg is correct that it hadn't been scored. if you were reasonably good in elementary school math, you could make an approximation if you assume that 20 million people who don't have health insurance take it and they take maximum advantage of the tax credit, that right there would be about $100 billion, i think, give or take. >> $100 billion of subsidies? >> if they all take it. and they weren't -- they were outside the system. the assumption is you're not going to have 20 million who don't have any insurance at all all of a sudden jump on this tax credit. so you probably take about half of that in which it would be about $50 billion a year. the one thing that we can state

with some authority is that it's going to be orders of magnitude less than the democratic plan because there's a huge government bureaucracy and all these mandates and their average cost per -- i mean, i can't remember what the kennedy plan scored per person, but it was -- it was -- >> it's pushing $2 trillion. >> i mean, it was -- god, i want to say $20,000 a person per year. now, if i'm wrong, you tell me. but, you know, it's not going to be more than $5,000 a person per year. and that's if you all go the individual insurance market. now, you go -- the small businesses join these group pools, they're not going to pay that much per person. they're going to get a group rate. so, you know, it is a defensible cost and it is i would say two to three times less expensive per person covered than the democratic plan is going to be and that's just --

>> well, it's below what theirs would cost. 83% of americans are happy with their health insurance now. most of that is going to be employer provided care and this bill allows them to keep their care and no exclusion. so that's 83%, so -- >> thank you all very much.

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