because we only have a minute or so left. our next caller is supporting the idea of eliminating saturday mail delivery. why? caller: i rather sink that it is only rational. the mail service is less needed in the computer age. the handwriting is on the wall. we do not need the service continuously. host: in tyrone -- and tyrone, a quick comment from peach street city georgia. caller: this is only another example of failed government. host: and i will leave you with that. we take you now to the floor of today's a communication from the speaker.

the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. march 18, 2010, i hereby appoint the honorable lois capps to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father coughlin. chaplain coughlin: draw near o lord our god, graciously hear us. we know you, as ultimately powerful, ultimately wise, and ultimately good. by your power we believe our weakness is helped. by your wisdom our ignorance is corrected. by your goodness, our iniquity is washed away. turn to you in prayer and with expectations throughout this day. may both our intentions and our

behavior give you glory. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house her approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from california, congresswoman jane harman. ms. harman: please join me. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message. the messenger: madam speaker, a message from the senate. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: madam speaker, i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 1789, cited as the act of 2010 which

the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 10 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, congresswoman jane harman. ms. harman: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. ms. harman: madam speaker, in a few hours the house leadership will finally introduce a rescission package on health care which i understand will reduce our deficit over the first 10 and second 10 years to lower numbers than would happen either under the house passed or senate passed health bills. as a blue dog i commend commend this. but i stand here this morning specifically to say information just released by the energy and commerce committee on which i serve shows a very favorable impact on my district from this bill, which i intend to vote

for. i received thousands of calls and emails from constituents and i will post this information on my website immediately after speaking this morning, but in a nutshell it improves coverage for 427,000 of my constituents who already have health care. it gives tax credits and other assistance to up to 137,000 families and 15,100 small businesses. it improves medicare coverage for 81,000 constituents by closing the doughnut hole. it exsends coverage to 67,500 uninsured. and it guarantees that people with pre-existing conditions, kids under 26 and a lot of folks who otherwise have no access will get health insurance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. -- the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. harman: i ask my colleagues to support the bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: i ask permission to

address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: so granted. mr. wilson: madam speaker, as backroom deals and threats continue to force the health care takeover vote, the costs from the congressional budget office has just been released of nearly $1 trillion. state leaders across the country have recognized that this takeover could bankrupt our great nation. just yesterday the state treasurer of massachusetts said, if president obama and the democrats repeat the mistakes of the health insurance mandate in massachusetts, on a national level, they will bankrupt this country within four years. other state leaders have expressed great concerns about unfunded mandates. south carolina is one of 36 legislatures considering borrowing -- barring individuals from being compelled to purchase health insurance. i applaud state leaders who are fighting big government mandates which the nfib estimates will kill 1.6 million jobs. in conclusion, god bless our

troops. we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? without objection. >> madam speaker, each ofs faces a question about whose side we are on today. will we continue to protect the insurance companies or will we stand up for the american people? protect the insurance companies or stand up for people like rebecca gentry, a small business owner whose bottom line is suffering as the cost of health insurance for her employees continues to skyrocket. protect the insurance companies or stand up for people like joseph crumb, an educational assistant, who can't get health care coverage for his neck and back injuries because his insurance company said they were pre-existing conditions. protect the insurance companies or stand up for people who are underinsured like elise who will soon have only the emergency room to care for her

seriously ill 2-year-old daughter because she can no longer afford the co-payment. the time has come for us to stand up for the american people and to hold the insurance companies accountable. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> ask permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. burgess: thank you, madam speaker. i received a letter yesterday from a state senator in my state, tommy williams, who is from the beaumont area, not my immediate area but he serves on their senate finance committee in the state. he worked on the state budget last year and will work on it again next year. he says, i am writing respectfully to ask you to oppose the president's propose the health care re-- proposed health care reform as outlined. he said in a word it will be devastating. the analysis provided to senator williams from their health and human services commission roughly four to $5

billion for the two-year budget if we implemented this plan in a state that is arguably in better shape than other states, but still facing a significant budget shortfall for the next budget year, $11 billion to $17 billion. he concludes with, i hope you'll understand as a member of the senate finance committee who has wrestles with these very difficult issues, i respectfully ask you to oppose the president's plan because of the fiscal havoc it would cause for the state we both love so dearly. respectfully tommy williams, state senator. i ask unanimous consent to put his letter into the record. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. baca: health care reform is needed now. not tomorrow, not yesterday, but now. after decades of working hard, mr. hernandez in my -- with the

fourth highest foreclosure in the nation and 15% unemployment in my district, my constituents cannot wait any longer. we need health care reform now. health care reform will lower the cost and hold health insurance companies accountable, provide coverage for 31 million people, end discrimination based on pre-existing condition, close the doughnut hole for thousands of seniors, and cost 75,000 adults in my district under the age of 27 to stay under the current coverage. provide millions of dollars in funding for seven community centers in my district. cut the national deficit by $107 billion over 10 years and produce four million new jobs in the coming decade. health care reform is good for seniors, good for adults, good for women, good for families, good for america. let's support health care reform now. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to

address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. johnson: even while the president tours the country saying it's time for an up or down vote on health care, the speaker's attempting to bypass a vote altogether. as beginning gunning said, this congress has gone from voting on bills without reading them to passing bills without voting on them. that's un--- unkrbles and unconstitutional. it's time for an open an honest vote on health care. let's vote on how the bill cuts medicare. let's vote on how the bill actually hides health costs. let's vote on how the bill uses taxpayer dollars to fund abortion. but the speaker can't do that. she's faced with the unfortunate inconvenience that some of her members actually want to listen to their constituents and vote no. so now she intends to muscle through health reform without an actual vote. that's just wrong. i'll say it again.

congress has gone from voting on bills without reading them to passing bills without voting on them. america deserves better. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from -- the gentlewoman from ohio rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, madam speaker, i believe that a great strength of our democracy is in our first amendment. it allows for the robust exchange of ideas and opinions. i welcome that. i want to hear what my constituents are thinking. what concerns they have. concerns about how health care will work for them. i want to listen to them about the lack of health care and how that affects their life so the high cost of health care and how they are coping with that. i have held town halls, round tables, small groups, over 20 meetings in my district over health care. and this week demonstrations for and against health care reform were held in front of my

district office. unfortunately, some of those opposing health care reform went too far. instead of making their arguments against the bill, they engaged in abusive language directed at one of my constituents who suffers the terrible ravages of parkinson's disease. they treated him like a beggar, they threw dollar bills at him, they did not respect his humanity. they did not respect his rights to give his opinion on the health care bill. this type of protest goes too far. it has crossed the line. the health care debate reform -- the health care legislation -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. kilroy: when it comes to medical care, it should respect our rights as citizens to express our opinions. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks, madam speaker.

the speaker pro tempore: so ordered. mr. pence: this is a remarkable moment in the life of our nation. after years of run away federal spending, deficits, debt, borrowing, bailouts, and takeovers against the opposition of a clear majority of the american people, the democrats in congress and in this administration are prepared to ram through a $1 trillion government takeover of health care. and it's just hard to believe. ignoring the will of the american people, twisting the rules of the house and the senate into a pretzel, we are headed for a showdown this weekend. but i got to tell you, i like our chances. the reason house democrats don't have the votes because the american people know this is a government takeover of

health care. mandating that every american purchase health insurance whether they want it or need it or not. passing hundreds of billions of dollars in job-killing tax increases, providing public funding for abortions, and setting into motion government run insurance that will cost millions the insurance they had. it's a government takeover of health care. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. pence: a minority in congress plus the american people equals a majority. america, we can win this fight. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. capps: mr. speaker, i rise in recognition of march as women's history month. throughout history women have been at the forefront of our nation's most importantly struggle. the abolition movement, support for people with disabilities, efforts to enact child labor laws, civil rights, environmental causes to name a few. we are again at the forefront of the most -- one of the most historic efforts of our time, the fight for affordable health

care coverage. it's no coincidence we are finally making progress on health care reform with the first woman speaker of the house at the helm. a woman in charge of the white house for the opposite -- efforts of health reform as well as several cabinet secretaries. finally with all due respects to our male colleagues, i believe it is very appropriate during women's history month we pay special tribute to the women of the house as we continue fighting for the causes our mothers and grandmothers fought for before us. together we'll continue to make history and we'll do so next with the passage of health care reform. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. smith: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. smith: mr. speaker, a true bipartisan health care bill would have included real lawsuit abuse reform that provides savings for the american people. the administration refuses to consider lawsuit abuse reform because they want to protect

their political piggy bank which is filled by trial lawyers. the legal industry contributed $43 million to president obama's 2008 campaign. more than 78% of the money given to congress by lawyers, mostly from trial lawyers, went to democrats. almost $100 million. by bank rolling democratic politicians, trial lawyers has skeded in preventing any lawsuit -- succeeded in preventing any lawsuit reform from being part of the health care legislation. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, the whole nation desperately needs health care reform, but no group of americans needs it more than women. women who face discrimination and insult at the hands of the broken status quo. we all know that the current

system allows insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, but i wonder how many of my colleagues realize that essentially being a woman is a pre-existing condition. pregnancy, for example, or c-sections, can be deemed pre-existing conditions. and most unbelievable of all, insurance companies can legally turn back -- their backs on women who suffered injuries due to domestic violence because that, too, can be defined as a pre-existing condition. we should all be ashamed of a system that puts insurance company profits ahead of healthy american women. it's time for women to no longer be a pre-existing condition. pass the health care bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, speaker pelosi

recently said that we have to pass the health care bill so we can find out what's in it. i can tell you what's in it. it does nothing for cost. i'm not a career politician. i've owned a small business creating thousands of jobs. small business are dying. we need to bring down the cost of health care. today it's $12,000 for a family of four. a recent study said it will take it to $28,000 for a family of four in the next 10 years. we are doing nothing to lower the cost of health care. it's killing small businesses and killing jobs. what's also in the bill is $47 billion in tax increases. small businesses are going to be the ones to feel it the most. most of them have pass-through income. it will be another big job killing opportunity for small businesses. the third thing is that it really hurts seniors. $500 billion worth of real cuts, not just waste, fraud and abuse. i've looked at the cuts.

they're very serious cuts. and now we know that the speaker wants to pass the bill not with a vote. no wonder people are fed up with washington. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida rise? ms. castor: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. castor: my colleague from florida is incorrect. health care is good for small business owners and middle-class families. they are for folks that already have insurance. they are important -- there are important consumer protections. if you are going to pay your premiums and co-pays, they can no longer cancel you. you will no longer be barred if you have a pre-existing condition like asthma or diabetes. for parents, now your children will be able to stay on your policy until age 26. and we will ensure that the bulk of your payments and

co-pays will actually go to health care rather than c.e.o. salaries and bonuses. my colleague is incorrect. medicare will get stronger. our parents, our grandparents, our neighbors will see substantial improvements in their benefits. not one benefit will be cut. instead, we are going to pay medicare doctors more to stay in medicare. we're going to close the doughnut hole, make prescription drugs more affordable. and for small business owners and families who don't have job -- new tax credits to make sure you can afford your health care. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise? mr. reichert: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. reichert: i am humbled and honored today to recognize the sacrifice of a fallen marine from my district. lance corporal eric ward from redmond, washington, who was killed in afghanistan on

february 21. soon he will be buried at arlington, the final resting place for those who so honorably sacrificed their lives for this country. when i talked to eric's mom the other day, she said she understood her son's dedication to his country. she was a proud marine mom. despite the sacrifice her family has made and the sense of loss and grief that they now bear. it's important that we remember today that our country, our government, the people, our way of life would not exist without those who sacrifice their life. like eric ward who honored our country and protected our freedom. to eric's family and friends, know we will never forget eric's sacrifice nor all those who've gone before him. in his memory, it will live on, and we will continue to

remember eric's service to this country. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri rise? >> to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. carnahan: thank you, mr. speaker. thousands of my constituents have shared their health care stories with me about america's broken health care system. like christopher from st. louis. he said, i stayed in the job i hated five years just for the insurance. or like stacy also from st. louis. her grandmother died without preventive coverage two years ago. she said, leaving her grandfather broke due to medical debt and her family wondering why she couldn't -- why her medical problems couldn't have been detected sooner. she wrote, please vote for health care reform for my grandmother. well, stacy and the thousands of others i represent, i want to tell you i will. the american people have had it with the partisan bickering here and so have i.

the folks that want to play partisan political games with your health care need to get out of the way. the insurance companies that have made record profits during this economic recession and are sticking us with higher premiums all across the country , enough with the obstruction and the delay. it's -- this bill has already passed the house. the bill has already passed the senate with a supermajority. it's time for every member of this congress to stand up and be counted to have a final up or down vote. it's time to stand up for millions of americans. i know where i stand. it's time for an up or down vote on health care now. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. gohmert: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. that's exactly what i want to do, i want to address some of the things and misstatements that have been made. i am also tired of the partisan bickering. i came in thinking that the democrats who said we want to

work together, we're serious. we have been locked out of every single discussion except when the president came to preach to us. and he misrepresented, not intentionally, not lying, you know, perhaps some may have gave him the information, but this bill that we're going to vote on starts with a lie. it says this is an act that will modify first-time homebuyers credit in the case of members of the armed forces and for other purposes. it started with deceit. it's going to go and telling people they are going to have insurance, man, if that's true, if we can save money by adding 30 million people to our rolls, we need to go insure everybody in china and then we'll be done with the deficit. this bill is a disaster. 70-plus percent of the american people want us to throw it out and start over. let's listen to the american

people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york rise? mrs. maloney: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, as we contemplate an historic vote to reform health care, i'd like to emphasize how critically important this bill is to the women of this country. according to a report prepared by the joint economic committee, which i chair, an estimated 64 million women in this country lack adequate health care. over one quarter of our daughters between the ages of 19 and 24 lack health care. and women between the ages of 55 and 64 are particularly vulnerable. that's because so many women depend on their spouse's employer-based health care and all too often they discover

they are not age eligible for medicare when their older husband's retire. and a staggering 39% of all low-income women lack health care. ultimately this is a vote about who will be -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mrs. maloney: who we will be as a country for our sisters, daughters, mothers, yes, vote yes for them. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. lungren: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lungren: strangest things happens you bring the gavel down and the time has expired and they turn to you and say, i yield back the balance of my time. that's sort of metaphor for the problem here in congress. when we announce the tax cut we say we're giving something back to you, as if we had the call on your money in the first instance. it's one of the fictions we deal with. such as the deal will not cost us any money or the fiction

that the american people don't know what's in the bill or the fiction that the american people will love it once we pass it. let's remember august. it did occur. it is something that is a manifestation of the american people and how they feel. let's not ignore the american people. let's be the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. cohen: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, madam speaker. today i come before you with a heavy heart for a friend of mine and a great friend of music in the world and particular for my hometown of memphis, tennessee, passed away last night. alex chilton who was a rock 'n' roller, who was an indie music artist passed away. alex at age 16 had a number one hit from the group called the

box tops, "ain't got time to catch a fast train," "my baby just wrote me a letter." that was number one when he was 16. he had a group called big star. it wasn't well-known. they did three albums. but "rolling stone" put it among the top 500 list. alex chilton is like so much in memphis. he grew up in a time when elvis presley was our adversary to the world. he wanted to play music and did it his own way. independent, innovative. he never cared for the critics. he didn't have that much acclaim at the box office or at the record sales but he did with others. r.e.m. was a group he influenced greatly and the replacements did a song called "alex chilton."

he was supposed to play south-southwest in austin. he won't do it. his music will live on forever. he's an embodiment of memphis music. hard, independent, brilliant, beautiful. we're lucky he came our way. he leaves a wife and a daughter. thank you, madam speaker, for giving me this opportunity. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina rise? ms. foxx: to address the house for one minute, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. the people of this country like to have simple truths. and the simple truth about the bill that we're probably going to vote on this week is that americans are opposed to the health care bill. but the democrats in charge of the congress think they're smarter than the average americans and are going to cram through this bill with tricks and the people do not want it. it takes away individual

freedom and puts the government in charge. even the president admitted that at the republican retreat that you would not be able to keep your health insurance if the like it despite the fact that he'd been saying that for months. even some democrats don't like the senate bill or didn't like the senate bill that is what's going to be voted on. the chair of the house rules committee said last year the senate should, quote, go back to the drawing board, end quote, and that the senate bill, quote, will do almost nothing to reform health care but will be a windfall for insurance companies, end quote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. foxx: vote no on this bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts rise? mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, by the direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 1190 and ask for its immediate resolution.

the clerk: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 1190. resolved, that it shall be in order through the calendar day of march 21, 2010, for the speaker to entertain motions that the house suspend the rules. the speaker or her designee shall consult with the minority leader or his designee on the designation of any matter for consideration pursuant to this resolution. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for one hour. without objection. mr. mcgovern:00 madam speaker, for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from north carolina, dr. foxx. all time yielded during consideration of this rule is for debate only. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i also ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on house resolution 1190. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: , madam speaker, -- madam speaker, h.res. 1190 authorizes the house consider

suspension rules from may time march 21, 2010, this rule is negligence because of the clause 1-a of rule 15, the speaker may entertain motions to suspend the rules only on monday, tuesday, or wednesday of each week. the rule also provides that the speaker shall consult with the minority leader on the designation of any matter considered for suspension. in order for suspensions to be considered on other days, the rules committee must authorize consideration of these motions. i want to remind my colleagues that any legislation passed under suspension of the rules still must receive at least a 2/3 vote. this rule will help us move important bipartisan legislation before we recess for the upcoming district work period. a list of suspension bills will be provided by the majority leader at the appropriate time. we expect a number of important bills to be considered. additionally, we expect the rules committee to meet again to make several other rules in order. before i reserve my time, let me just state the obvious, we are waiting for the health care

bill to ripen and be ready for floor consideration. while we wait, there is business this house must attend to and this rule helps us do that. let me be clear, we will vote on the health care bill in the next few days. we will do so with the publicly released c.b.o. score that shows that health care bill does not increase the deficit and it reduces the deficit and we'll do so while allowing 72 hours for anyone who wants to read and analyze the bill before we vote on it. we will do so knowing that we will ensure 32 million people who currently lack health insurance today. madam speaker, this rule simply allows the house to conduct business until the health care bill is ready to be brought to the floor for a final vote a. vote which i'm confident will prevail. i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my colleague for

yielding time. madam speaker, we are on the cusp of voting on legislation to permit a federal government takeover of 1/6 of the nation's economy. this is the most significant piece of legislation in our generation. the american people get that and they do not want this bill. they want health reform that makes sense and will make health care more affordable and accessible. when the chairwoman of the rules committee, ms. slaughter, flooded the proposed slaughter solution last week, the outcry was immediate. you would think that my colleagues would take their title of representatives seriously and want to listen to the american people and have an open process. that's why i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question today so that we can amend this rule to allow the house to consider h.res. 1188. this resolution sponsored by mr. griffith will ensure an up or down vote on the senate's

health care takeover by preventing the speaker from using the slaughter solution to ram the senate health care bill through the house bypassing regular order. the american people do not want the senate bill and neither do most members in this chamber. the american people deserve an open process and an up or down vote. voting no on the previous question, members will be on the record opposing the slaughter solution and voting to allow for consideration of a remedy aimed at protecting against this attempt to ram through the democrat plan to socialized medicine. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment and stroorl -- extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, let me just state for the record that this has been an

incredibly open process. when i contrast it to the way my friends on the other side of the aisle handled a similar bill related to health care, that was the prescription drug bill, i don't know what they are complaining about. when they brought up the prescription drug bill, this is what it looked like. and it was given to the rules committee, less than an hour before we were asked to vote for it. it was rushed to the floor, a total of 27 hours before the time it was brought to the rules committee and members were asked to vote on the bill. contrast that to what we have done on this health insurance reform effort. president obama began with a health care summit at the beginning of 2009, republicans and democrats were invited and participated. over the past year and a half, the house held nearly 100 hours of hearings and 83 hours of committee markups. we heard from 181 witnesses. both democrat and republican. 239 amendments were considered. 121 amendments were adopted.

this is the big lie that we are hearing from the other side that somehow this has been a closed process. the rules committee will convene on the health insurance reform bill with c-span cameras present. so this has been an incredibly open process. i commend the speaker of the house and chairwoman of the rules committee for this open process. in contrast to the way they did their prescription drug bill and just shoved it before the rules committee without anyone being able to read it. i think this has been an open process and we stand by it. you want to talk about process? let's talk about the process by some of the big insurance companies in this country. that routinely deny people coverage for those silly reasons. they do it because they can. in some states, madam speaker, believe it or not insurance companies consider domestic violence as the pre-existing condition.

i mean does anybody here think that that's accessible? in the gentlelady's home state of north carolina they are one of the states that still allow domestic violence against women to be used as an excuse to deny somebody health insurance. that is unconscionable. and the bill that we are talking about will fix that. they were in charge of this place for a lot of years, too many years if you ask me. they drove this economy into a ditch. and during all that time they did nothing, nothing to deal with the rising costs of health insurance. families of small businesses. they did nothing about denying insurance companies from denying people insurance because of pre-existing conditions. they did nothing to deal with this issue that domestic violence in some states, including the state of north carolina, can be used as a pre-existing condition to deny somebody health care. so we need to do what's right for the american people and

enough of the misinformation. and enough of the lies and enough of the distortions. we need to do what the people want and that is fix this health insurance industry that we have in this country that quite frankly has denied millions and millions of people in this country and even those who have insurance have found out as they have been wheeled to the operating room their insurance doesn't cover what they thought. time now is for reform. we are going to do that. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. my colleague across the aisle talks about what the state of north carolina does and does not do. this insurance -- insurance should be a state issue, it should not be a federal issue. maybe changes need to be made in the state of north carolina, but that's up to the state of north carolina. this is a federal government takeover which is inappropriate. let me talk about the aarp and what they do about pre-existing

conditions, because our colleagues have put a special carve out in this bill for the aarp and they deny access with pre-existing conditions by imposing waiting periods on medigap plans. they have a tremendous turndown on pre-existing conditions. and medicare turns down more people, twice as many people as the insurance companies do and they want to put us all in medicare-type plans. my colleague is a little disingenuous when he brings up selective situations like this. i now would like to yield such time as he may consume to my distinguished colleague from california, the ranking member of the rules committee, mr. dreier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. dreier: thank you very much, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dreier: madam speaker, i thank my friend for yielding and of course congratulate her on her fine management of this

extraordinarily important rule because of what we are going to be doing when we deal with the previous question. before i get to that, i'd like to engage in a colloquy, if i might, with my good friend from worcester and say that we have had this constant drumbeat of us versus them, class warfare. the democrats are for the people, the republicans are only for the insurance companies. i mean we continue to hear that over and over and over again. so what i'd like to do, madam speaker, is to disabuse my friend and others on the other side of the aisle and many people in the media who continue to put forth this argument. by saying that when the charge that we have tried to do nothing to deal with this issue is out there, that is crazy. madam speaker, i'd like to go through a few of the things that we have done that have been designed to bring the cost of health insurance down to make sure, to make sure that

more americans have access to quality health insurance. let's begin by something that i introduced and i'm happy to say we have put into law. i introduced it 23 years ago, in 1987. the first bill to call for the establishment of medical savings accounts, which incentivize americans to put more dollars aside, to save, to plan for direct health care costs or health insurance costs. the second thing we have done, i'm very proud of the work product, medicare part d, by ensuring that more seniors have access to affordable prescription drugs. madam speaker, what i'd like to do is talk about a couple of things that we have worked on and in -- when we were in the majority that we passed through this house, but unfortunately were blocked by my friends on the other side of the aisle in the other body. those two things are, number one, associated health plans.

president obama has said that he believes that the notion of allowing small businesses to come together to pool so they can have the benefit of lower insurance rates is something that he finds somewhat appealing and yet when we passed that in this house, sent it to the other body, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle chose, unfortunately, to block that measure. and what is it that has happened? we have seen an increase in the number of people who don't have health insurance in this country because of the fact that democrats in the other body chose to block our establishment of associated health plans so small businesses out there can come together. and the second issue which again the president stood here in his address to the joint session of congress, madam speaker, and talked about he believed it was important for us to utilize, and that is real lawsuit abuse reform. unfortunately one of the reasons that we see this

dramatic increase in health care costs is that what's happened? many doctors, and listen to them, many doctors have to engage in what is described as defensive medicine. they have to constantly prescribe all kinds of tests which are unnecessary but they do it for one reason, madam speaker, and that is they do it because they are afraid of being sued. now, madam speaker, in the last republican congress in our attempt to bring the cost of health insurance down, we passed out of this house real lawsuit abuse reform legislation. it was blocked in the other body by our democratic colleagues. 8 -- so this notion that was put forward by my friend from worcester that we somehow have done absolutely nothing to deal with the plight of those americans who don't have access to quality health insurance is preposterous.

madam speaker, we have heard about this issue of transparency and disclosure and accountability, and i listen to my friend from worcester argue that we have had this great deal of transparency. i ask you, madam speaker, why is it that the american people are saying that we should start over and we should in fact have a process that is transparent and open? never before, never before in the history of the republic have we seen the process that is being contemplated, used on such a massive issue and on the signature issue of an administration. we all know that this is the signature issue that has been put forth argued for more than a year and now what we have had is the speaker and the majority leader and the distinguished chairwoman of the house committee on rules say that it

is acceptable for us to completely deny accountability, to avoid accountability, and to prevent members from actually being responsible for the votes that they cast. . well, madam speaker, the american people really get it. no matter how diligently they work overtime in the capitol to block any transparency, the american people are able to see through what it is they're doing. it's one of the great benefits of the new technology that exists today and the fact there are democrats as well as republicans who are decrying this. i joke with my friend from grandfather community that sometimes i watch some of the programs on television that are maybe a little left of center and i'm proud to do that. i watch them with regularity. and i listen to a number of their commentators who would no way be considered supporters of the republican vision that is out there actually say that it

is wrong, it is wrong for democrats to go down this road of self-executing this massive, massive bill. they're arguing for transparency and disclosure and i believe it makes a great deal of sense. when we defeat the previous question, and i hope we do that, we will take the initiative that's been launched by our new republican colleague, parker griffith, who has come forward to offer a proposal, if we are going to debate this health care bill, we should have an up or down vote and have extensive debate. the process that's being contemplated right now would not allow one single minute of debate on the floor of the house to debate the health care bill.

the only thing we would debate is 30 minutes on either side on the special rule that would come to the house rule. so, madam speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question and when we do that we will bring up and allow a vote on the griffith proposal that will ensure that we'll have an up or down vote on the health care issue and the kind of free flowing debate that the american people deserve. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from -- the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: give me a break that somehow republican ideas have helped anybody in the country dealing with the high cost of insurance is ridiculous. in california alone eight million people last year went without health insurance. that's about 25% of all californians under the age of 65. 25% in california where they have some of the strongest malpractice laws in place. i mean, this is crazy.

the fact is that people are struggling to pay for their health insurance and people want -- who pay for it aren't going to get the health insurance that they think they're going to get. we have a situation that we not have to worry about the uninsured but worry about the insurance who find themselves sick or their loved one's sick and they are going to be denied coverage. we are the united states of america. we can do better. we can have the best for everybody. why not? i yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fattah. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. fattah: let me thank my colleague from the rules committee and let me thank the speaker for yielding me some time. the beauty of sports, you know, we're entering into march madness. we just witnessed the olympics. you know, when you get to sports, there's a scorecard. you know, all the talk and all the bra vato really doesn't

matter. you look at what the score is and we had a republican president. we had a republican house. a republican senate. for six years. and on the question of providing insurance to tens of millions of americans who didn't have it, they did zero. on the question of reading it in terms of excess costs, they did zero. in dealing with the practice of insurance companies taking away coverage on a pre-existing condition because they say pregnancy is a pre-existing condition, or acne or domestic violence, the republican president and the majority in the house and senate for six years did zero. now, we have a democratic president and a democratic house and a democratic senate, and in less than 16 months we have provided health care to over 10 million children.

even against the tobacco lobby and all of our republican colleagues, many of whom voted against it, we prevailed. we in this house voted to take away the exemption from the antitrust exemption from insurance companies. and within just a few hours, some 72 hours from almost this moment we are going to provide over 32 million of our fellow citizens with health insurance coverage through a health care reform proposal. we're going to rein in the worse practices of insurance companies. we are going to eliminate lifetime caps. we are going to make sure that children with pre-existing conditions can't be deny coverage. and then down the road adults. so we are moving to look now at the scorecard. all of the talk is wonderful. i heard my colleagues say, well, they've done this and tried to do this.

whatever the republican president and majority did over those six years is overwhelmed by what was left undone. and we have begun this work. we are going to finish this work, and we are going to make sure in this country we join the rest of the industrialized world in providing insurance for all of our citizens. we begin this fight and we're prepared to vote about it in just some 72 hours. all of this talk notwithstanding. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i want to say that again our colleagues across the aisle are in the business of picking winners and losers. they do love one insurance company. they love the aarp, which is going to be able to get -- in 2008 from their financial statements had royalty fees of $414 million. pure profit on their bottom

line. i raised this issue with mr. rangel when he was at the rules committee before because i'm very concerned about the way that aarp is being represented to the people. their profits have skyrocketed in recent years jumping 31% just from 2007 to 2008. so we find again that they want to pick the winners and losers instead of allowing individuals in this country to make their decisions on what they should be doing. i'd like now to yield two minutes to my distinguished colleague from georgia, mr. broun. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. mr. broun: i thank ms. foxx for yielding. i want to ask a question -- three questions of my democratic colleagues. are you so arrogant that you know what's best for the american people? are you so ignoreant to be oblivious to the wishes of the american people?

3/4 of america do not want this bill. are you so incompetent that you ignore the constitution, that you have to use tricks and deception to ram down the throats of the american people something that they absolutely do not want? i hope and pray and i call upon the american people to speak louder, and i hope and pray that our democratic colleagues will listen to the american people, listen to their constituents and stop this government takeover of health care. i hope you'll listen to president obama when he says that the american people deserve an up and down vote. i hope that i can encourage my democratic colleagues to defeat this previous question so that democrats and republicans can work together, so that we can find some commonsense solutions to literally lower the cost of health care, so government

doesn't take over the health care system that's going to drive millions of people out of work, that's going to run the cost of everybody's health insurance up if they have private insurance. it's going to destroy the private health insurance system, and i'm not -- as a medical doctor, i'm not -- i'm not a clown for the -- or the proponent of the health insurance system. but please listen to the american people. let's defeat this p.q. and let's work together to find some commonsense solutions that's in the best interest of america, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from georgia and all members are reminded to direct their remarks to the chair. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker. i think the gentleman from georgia nicely summed up the tone of the opposition. they'd rather exchange in name calling than finding solutions. grand old party indeed. let me think what competence and ignorance is, madam

speaker. that's allowing 47 million people go without health insurance. it's putting profits over patients. it's allowing insurance companies to discriminate for pre-existing conditions. we can do better. this is the united states of america. we can do better for our people. at this time i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. yarmuth. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for three minutes. mr. yarmuth: i thank my colleague. you know, it's fascinating to have been engaged in this discussion for the better part of a year now. as we talk about the things that we know the american people are demanding. they want us to act. they want us to act now in a comprehensive way to solve some of the problems facing the delivery of health care in this country. and we know because we've seen polls just as our colleagues on the other side have seen that when you ask the american people do they want competition and choice in their health care insurance system they stay by

margins approaching 75 or 80 -- 75% or 80%, yes, we do. do they want to end discrimination because of pre-existing conditions? by overwhelming margins they say yes we do. do you want protections against having your insurance canceled just because you happen to get sick? and they say by overwhelming margins, yes, we do. when you work through all of the elements that the legislation we're considering and will approve this weekend, the american people overwhelmingly say, yes, we want that. and i know our colleagues like to throw out these national poll numbers now and say, well, these polls show that now it's about 50/50 but the american people really don't want this. well, now there's one poll recently that asked those people that said they were against president obama's reform plan, the congressional plan, said, how many of you say

you are against it say you're against it because it doesn't go far enough? and nearly 40% said, that's why we're against it. just like the shop owner i spoke to over christmas who said, you know, i'm against what you're doing. i said, really, why is that? she said, because i have diabetes and i can't wait until 2014 to get the help i need. is she against reform? not on your life. not on her life either. she wants reform. she wants it faster and she wants more of it. and that's what i'm hearing all over my community. i don't know what's going on in some of the republicans' communities, but what i hear by an overwhelming margin is people say, do it, do it now. we are desperate. and you know what's interesting, as we've gone through this debate, and my friend, mr. dreier, was down here a few minutes ago saying how much they did when they were in control of the congress. well, they say they were for having insurance companies being able to sell insurance across state lines. did they do anything when they

had control of the congress for 12 years, did they make that possible? no. they say they're for ending pre-existing conditions. did they do anything about that? no. how about the rescission issue, did they do anything about that? no. yes, they passed a prescription drug plan. for some people it's working out very well. for those in the doughnut hole, that has to pay 100% of the cost, it's not working out really well. but -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. yarmuth: can i have one minute? mr. mcgovern: i give him one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. yarmuth: they passed the bill but they didn't pay for it and now the c.b.o. says that that's going to add $8 trillion to our debt. so while the republicans say they've been concerned about solving america's health care problems, they really haven't done anything about it. and the one thing that sticks with me throughout this entire debate one year long, nobody on the republican side has ever

said in any discussion that they had any interest in insuring the uninsured. those 47 million people, many of whom are going bankrupt, some of whom are dying, 18,000 a year are dying, almost a million a year going bankrupt, did they say anything about insuring the uninsured? not a word. so we're committed to providing the health care system america needs, wants and demands. we are going to do it this weekend. as i said before, this will be the proudest vote i ever cast on the floor of the house of representatives. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i want to say to my colleague from kentucky, even his own president has said that americans will not have competition in choice in terms of what they are able to keep. he said, people will not be able to keep the insurance plans they like under this plan. so i want to make a correction

of that. with that i yield two minutes to my distinguished colleague from south carolina and the next governor of south carolina, -- south carolina. >> i urge members to vote no on the previous question so the rule can be amended and the house can consider h.res. 1188. if passed, this bill will ensure a straight forward up or down vote on the senate passed health care bill. from the moment this bill was introduced, madam speaker, this government takeover of health care has been on life support. kept alive only by closed door processes and sweetheart deals. over the past several months i spent a tremendous amount of time in south carolina talking to folks about health care and quite frankly the american people are tired of the games, the gimmicks, and they have been tired of us trying to muscle this bill through the legislative process. it's time we pull the plug on

all these secretive schemes, madam speaker, the cure is real and true transparency. the american people deserve an honest debate and open vote by congress on this legislation. therefore i urge all of my colleagues to vote no on the previous question. madam speaker, let's give the american people a true up or down vote on this legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: could i inquire of the time remaining on both sides? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts has 16 minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from north carolina has 15 minutes remaining. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i want to make something clear. and that is the president has said over and over and over again that if you like what you have in terms of your insurance, you can keep it. no matter what my friends on the other side say, no matter

how much they don't like the fact that people can keep their own insurance, the president has assured that over and over again, no matter what you say, the facts are the facts. and that is a fact. the other fact is, the other facts are, what will health insurance reform do starting the first day it becomes law? on day one, on day one annual caps on coverage would be eliminated. on day one, rescissions, the practice of dumping people even if they have paid their premiums would be eliminated. on day one, pre-existing conditions, exclusions for children would be eliminated. over time all pre-existing conditions exclusions will be eliminated. parents will be able to carry children on their policy until their 26th birthday. the doughnut hole for seniors will be met with a $250 rebate. this will all happen on day one when we pass it. these things here are important to the american people. these are the things that when they were in charge they didn't have time to do.

we had to do tax cuts for people who are wealthy. we had to give corporations more tax cuts and more subsidies. time now -- the time has come for us to care about the american people and do something for the american people. this is it. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina -- ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. would the gentleman yield for a question? let me say, madam speaker, that the gentleman obviously did not pay attention to what the president said at the republican retreat because he said, he had made a mistake in saying that people could keep their insurance plans if they liked them. that a few stray cats and dogs had gotten into the senate bill. what i wanted to ask my colleague is, can he guarantee the american people that in the senate bill that they are going to vote on under a trick being used by the rules committee, that the american people will

be able to keep their insurance plans if they like it? because the president has said that isn't the case. i think it's real important that we get that said here. with that i yield three minutes to my colleague from texas, mr. gohmert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. gohmert: thank you, madam speaker. and i do appreciate my friend across the aisle earlier saying that all lies and distortion must stop. i'm glad he's finally agreed with us on that proposition. it is important. because for one thing people have been misled about what this bill does and doesn't do. i heard one of my friends across the aisle yesterday saying, gee, great news, i've got 25 names of religious leaders who are pro-life who have now taken the look and they have said, this is ok. as a pro-life person i don't believe this changes existing law. they look at page 119 and they

see under subparagraph capital b little i abortions for which public fund something prohibited. abortions for which expenditure of federal funds appropriated for the department of health and human services is not admitted. and based on the law as in effect as of the date of six months before the beginning of the plan year involved. oh, ok. that doesn't change ex-ising law. that's great. and they don't look over to page 124 that says, under this bill you have to provide insurance policies that will actually cover -- it says here, there is at least one plan that provides coverage of services described in clause little i of subparagraph b. that's the one that says you can't use federal funds to pay for abortion.

and a few pages over it says you have to provide these policies that will fund abortions from the paragraph we said we want. that's the kind of gamesmanship that's in here and people will suffer as a result. that's just a small example. now we hear over and over that you guys are killing people by not letting -- telling people by not having this plan we got for them. we heard the president say in 2007 the first step will be this bill is actually what we are talking about. that will be the first step and then there will be the transition basically into full socialized medicine. he said canada had to start with this kind of bill and then go to the full socialized medicine. let's look at what they do. here you find out if you want to die quicker from cancer than any other country, don't come to the united states because you live longer here. folks, that's just not right. i have a bill that does the things that we are talking

about. and newt gingrich told me back in june, man, that will revolutionize the discussion of health care. i have been trying since june to get that scored. i can't get it scored. i'm shut out. yeah, they are objective. they'll snap their fingers. they'll get you a c.b.o. score the next day, but not for this republican, even with the support of all the people they said i needed to get it scored. let's get fair for a change. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, gamesmanship my foot. there is no federal money in this bill for abortion. the hyde amendment applies to this, it's the law of the land. to get up here -- mr. gohmert: will the gentleman yield? mr. mcgovern: i will not yield. there is enough misinformation being said on this floor. i will not yield. madam speaker, in terms of scores, let me read the c.b.o. score today. an analysis of the democratic health care overhaul by the congressional budget office shows it would cost $940

billion over a decade and expand insurance to 32 million people. the package also will slice the deficit by $130 billion in the first decade and a whopping $1.2 trillion in the second. house democratic leadership aide said thursday. the c.b.o. report which will soon be published will show the plan cuts the growth of medicare costs by 1.4% per year while eliminating the doughnut hole. those cuts would extend the solvency of medicare for at least an additional nine years. you want to talk about scores, that's one of them here. this little will -- bill will not only ensure 32 million people it will cut the deficit. let's stick to what's real here. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i think the thing that my colleague across the aisle fails to mention we talk about the deficit is in order to do that they raise taxes.

and that's something that always -- they always leave out. they are never real about that. my colleague from texas has asked for another 30 seconds. i will yield him 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. gohmert: i appreciate my colleague saying there's no money in here for abortion because henry hyde amendment doesn't allow it. he is correct with regard to the appropriations through labor and h.h.s. that's all the hyde amendment applies to. it doesn't apply to the trillions of dollars that are appropriated in this bill around labor-h.h.s. that is money. the hyde amendment doesn't apply to and my colleague asked us to get real. that's as real as you get. there's money that goes around the hyde amendment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself 30 seconds again just to reiterate

there are no federal funds in this bill to cover an abortion. there was an amendment in the senate by senator nelson which made it clear. there is crystal clear. there should be no debate about it. and anybody getting on this floor saying somehow it does are plain wrong. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i now would yield two minutes to my distinguished colleague, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. scalise: i thank the gentlewoman from north carolina for yielding. here we are talking, this is about the only opportunity we are going to have for real debate on this because speaker pelosi and her liberal lieutenants have decided they are going to try to ram this down the throats of the american people without even having an actual vote on the house floor. of course violates article one, section 7 of the constitution. there are a tremendous number of constitutional questions about the bill, but they keep talking about how good their bill is. they keep talking about how good their bill is. let's look at the cridibility on -- credibility on this issue.

when speaker pelosi got the gavel in 2006 she said the democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open, most ethical congress in history. let's review the record. of course just a few weeks ago speaker pelosi says but we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it. they don't even know what's in the bill. they won't even release the c.b.o. score. there are rumors flying around. there are all these backdoor secret negotiations. they said all this would be on c-span. the president said it eight times. they mean behind closed doors this very minute cutting more sweetheart deals and no c-span cameras. they broke that pledge multiple times. now the latest on this slaughter rule. speaker pelosi just said this the other day, but i like it because people don't have to vote on the senate bill. do they really think the people of this country are stupid? of course the people know what's going on. the people watching this closely and the people will not

be fooled by this abomination of the process. but if that bill really was so good, why are they doing all this behind closed doors? they broke every promise they made along the way. they want you to believe don't worry. it's still going to work out the way you want it. if you like what you have, you can keep it. we have seen multiple times when the president said that that turned out not to be accurate. we know now and it's been concerned you will lose health care you have that you like under their bill. we have seen on abortion language, they keep saying even to this minute, don't worry, no taxpayer funding for abortion. are you going to believe the folks that broke every promise or believe the catholic bishops and national right to life -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. ms. foxx: madam speaker, i yield the gentleman another 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. a lease: i'll finish it up with this. are you going to believe the people who have broken every other promise they made about the bill or are you going to believe the catholic bishops, national right to life who said this would be a career defining

pro-abortion vote. it was national right to life. do you believe them or do you believe the folks who broke every other promise and meeting behind closed doors right now cutting more sweetheart deals that they don't want anybody to see about it. if their bill was so good, why are they trying to pass it without an actual vote? because they know the american people are sick and tired of this proposal to have a government takeover of health care and they don't want it. the public will be hurt on this issue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker. i don't know how to respond to that tirade. let me just say this. the reason why this bill is good is because it ensures 32 million people right now in this country who don't have insurance. the reason why this bill is good is it could ultimately contain the cost that average families and small business have to deal with right now with the rising cost of senate.

because democrats filibustered and about misinformation. there probably has never been a bill that has been more misrepresented to the american people than what is going on here in terms of this bill. i do think the american people

understand the truth and we are going -- and they are going to act on the truth later on this year. they are doing it now. they are telling them don't vote on it. but they feel obliged to do it. i want to say that while my colleagues across the aisle keeps ranting and raving about corporate profits for insurance companies, he doesn't say a word about the corporate profits for the big phrma companies. and yet these are -- they are wholly owned subsidiaries of the big phrma companies. the single -- of all the single industry lobbies in washington, the largest is the pharmaceutical research and manufacturers of america. phrma spent $26.2 million on lobbying last year. that's nearly three times as much as the insurance lobby which spent only $8.9 million. let's talk about profits. drugmakers combined profit margin last year, this is from an article of the examiner from

march 17, 2010, yesterday. profit margin was 22.2% compared with insurers' 4.4%. drugmaker merck's net income, $12.9 billion exceeds that of the 10 largest insurers combined. and i can go on and on, madam speaker. i i would like to put this article in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. foxx: thank you. and the reason they don't talk about big phrma and the drug industry is because big phrma helped write this bill because it protects them. they know that they are going to get a windfall out of this bill and they, again, our colleagues across the aisle are wholly owned subsidiaries of them. madam speaker, we -- our colleagues, my colleague from

louisiana brought up a very, very important point that i think needs to be mentioned again and again. what chairwoman slaughter has proposed and what will be done here is to use a rule providing for consideration of both the senate and reconciliation bills to deem the senate bill passed. avoiding the political problem that stems from taking a true up or down vote on the horribly unpopular legislation. if this legislation would be -- is doing so much good for the american people, then our colleagues should be proud to be voting for this in an up or down vote. they keep saying it, but you know saying it doesn't make it so. even though, again, speaker pelosi said on page 23 of her new directions for american documents issued in the 109th congress that, quote, every person in america has a right to have his or her voice heard,

no member of congress should be silenced on the floor. then on page 24 she states that bills should come to the floor under a procedure that allows open, full, and fair debate and members should have at least 24 hours later expanded to 72 hours to exam the bill, text prior to floor consideration. yet as mr. scalise has said, always -- all we have seen are broken promises and now speaker pelosi is advocating parliamentaryry trickery to avoid an up or down vote on the senate health care bill and he quoted her as saying this is a great way to do it because it avoids an up or down vote. this is not what the american people sent us here for. they didn't send us here to undermine the rule of law and to do things with tricks. they know this is the wrong thing to do. that's why they have been jamming the phones and telling our colleagues vote no. with that, madam speaker, i'm going to reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, let me just yield myself 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: to remind my colleagues that there's a cost to doing nothing. there is a cost to embracing the status quo as my republican colleagues have suggested. for middle income families alone the number of uninsured people in this income group would increase by 7.3 million people. that's in the middle income categories. is that the direction we want to go? to force millions and millions of more people into the ranks of the uninsured? which will ultimately add to our deficit and to our debt? i don't think so. madam speaker, at this time i would like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in permitting me to speak on this rule and for his unequivocal call for being realistic and

some of the outrageous things we have heard on the floor. i just heard my friend from texas talk about demonizing the canadian system and calling it socialized medicine. it's really kind of ironic first of all canada has basically medicare for all. it is a government funded insurance program but can madeans pick who they want -- but canadians pick who they want to be their doctor just like americans who are on medicare pick their doctor. and i would say, frankly, that most americans would be happy with the overall outcome of the canadian health care system. they pay less, they get sick less often, when they do get sick they get well faster, and they live longer than americans. the sad truth is that our

nonsystem of health care, which is very good for veterans, it's pretty good for senior citizens , but for other americans, particularly approaching 50 million uninsured, it's a problem. and increasingly if we don't do something, the increasing premiums that we are seeing for private insurance, higher co-pays, higher deductibles, and coverage that is getting skinnier and skinnier puts us on a path that is disastrous for american families. i hope that we'll be able to come forward, move past some of the outrageous rhetoric, and the falsehoods and look at the facts. americans have if they can afford it some of the best health care in the world. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. blumenauer: for those who can afford it. they have some of the best health care in the world. but americans overall by any objective measure of performance like life expectancy or how soon babies die, we don't perform very well. and increasingly the pressure on small business to deal with the failing system, what's happening on families who are having more and more insurance bureaucrats trying to prevent them from getting coverage is a prescription for disaster. that's why this year there will be more than 1,000 people that i represent who will go bankrupt from medical costs, and most of them have insurance. madam speaker, that doesn't happen anywhere else in the world. and if we are able to move

forward with this health care reform, it will no longer happen in the united states. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: madam speaker, we'll reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, may i inquire how much time remains on both sides? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts has 7 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from north carolina has 3 1/2 minutes remaining. mr. mcgovern: we are just checking on one speaker. madam speaker, i would like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. tonko. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. tonko: thank you, madam speaker. i think it is so important for us to move forward and not be

derailed in our efforts to reform what is important policy in this country. health care obviously is something that needs to be provided in terms of insurance to our working families out there. we know the impact of delay and the impact of no reforms. status quo simply does not cut it. we cannot afford to allow our families to continue with such gross injustice. obviously the increase projected, $1,800 per year for family plans, is a train wreck waiting to happen. today the average of some $13,000 for family plans would then grow in the next decade to some 31,000. which small business out there could afford to pay that or even a fraction of that for its employees? we know that what we are trying to maintain here is an employee-based health care insurance system. while the employer based system needs some sort of relief.

we need to know there are assurances for containing those costs, for making certain that into the future we'll have a safety net for our working families and for our business community. and the measure we are advancing there is assist tell for small business. it is providing them the opportunity to make this sharing affordable. we know that the benefits that come with reducing the deficit with our bill, having been scored by c.b.o., is looking at $130 billion for the first 10 years and some $1.2 trillion into the next 10 years. this is progress. this is a step in the right direction. we also know the reforms where those who are denied for whatever bias for gender, for pre-existing conditions, but used to deny people. toddlers who are denied because of overweight. individuals who have perhaps been violated, sexually violated or domestic violence

have been denied. these reforms are essential and let's do them now. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i'd like to yield one minute to my colleague from arizona, mr. flake. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized for one minute. mr. flake: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. it's often said around this place that nobody cares about process. it's only the substance that's the policy. but the process lends itself to the substance. and bad process equals bad policy. especially when it's done over and over again. we have seen over the past couple years shrinking of the ability of the minority party to actually come to the floor, offer the amendment they would like to offer, actually have an impact on the policy debate. now, that's process, but it has an impact on the policy. over time if a majority simply asserts its rights under the house rules to minimize debate

or to have a vote without having a vote, to deem something through, if you do that kind of thing continually, you are going to get a bad product. and i would suggest that the health care reform bill that we will vote on, maybe, or we will deem later this weekend, is a bad product. and it's partly because of a flawed process. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i yield myself 10 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: want to talk about process? over the past year and a half the house held nearly 100 hours of hearings and 83 hours of committee markups. we heard from 181 witnesses both democrat and republican, 239 amendments were considered, and 121 were adopted. i think that's a pretty good process. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: madam speaker, i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts.

mr. mcgove: i'm the final -- m mcgovern: i'm the final speaker. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker, i want to say that what my colleague just said from massachusetts about all those hours of hearings it was a totally different bill. no hearings have been held on this bill. totally different bill. that isn't the way we work around here. what they are asking people not to vote on is a bill that came from the senate. it isn't the house bill. so let's, again, get real here and let's talk about what we should be talking about. . you know, my colleagues across the aisle were against the senate bill before they were for the bill. let me quote my distinguished colleague who is the chair of the rules committee when she

said december 23, 2009, under the senate bill, millions of americans will be forced into private insurance plans which will be subsidized by taxpayers. that alternative will do almost nothing to reform health care but will be a windfall for insurance companies. she went on to say, quote, the senate bill has -- the senate has ended up with a bill that isn't worthy of its support. supporters of the weak senate bill say just pass it, any bill is better than no bill. i strongly disagree. and now that very same person has done everything possible to get this bill passed in this house so that it will become law. you know, it's no wonder that the majority is considering procedural tricks and sleight of hand because the bill that they're proposing to pass doesn't provide true health care reform. and the process doesn't pass the sniff test. republicans will never accept

the status quo for health care. we can do better. we need to have a bill that will lower the cost of health care in america but you do not lower the cost of health care by creating new government-run programs. we can lower the cost by putting patients, average, everyday americans in charge of their health care, not insurance companies and not the government. lower costs will result from putting patients in charge of their health care through innovations like expanded health savings accounts and by making sure that trial lawyers are not driving up the cost of health care with a blizzard of frivolous lawsuits. we should be revitalizing america's economy and promoting economic freedom. the nonpartisan congressional budget office estimates that the republican plan will -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: thank you, madam speaker. my friends on the other side of the aisle would have you believe that there won't be a vote on health care in the next

few days. nothing could be further from the truth. my friends on the other side of the aisle are very good at making things up. let me be clear. this house will vote to move the senate bill forward. the process will work. the president will have a bill to sign and the senate will have a set of corrections and improvements to the bill. much of what we have done here in this congress. we will have corrections and improvements to the bill that president obama will sign into law. so this idea that the house will not vote on the health care bill is simply not true. so i guess it's a good smokescreen but it's not true. madam speaker, the republicans are using the previous question to use the fact that they prefer to leave 32 million people uninsured because that's what will happen if we do nothing, and that they're happy of having skyrocketing health insurance premiums and health care costs drive our country into further economic distress. no one in this chamber, no

member of congress has to worry about their health insurance. why can't the american people, why can't the american people have the same plan and the same choices and the same assurances as us? why did my republican friends think that somehow, you know, we should have some sort of special privilege? you know, if it's good enough for us, the american people ought to have the same thing. and that's what this bill would do. for political purposes, republicans have been against this important reform from the start. remember, it was senator jim demint, rapp, who said that republicans must oppose this plan at all costs and that its defeat will be president obama, quote, waterloo, end of quote. the debate we are going to have is simple. you are going to be on the side of the patients or on the side of big insurance companies. you are going to be on the side of the insurance companies who don't want to discriminate them because of pre-existing conditions or on the side of the status quo and the special interests. let me close with one example.

eight states including north carolina and the district of columbia do not have laws that specifically bar insurance companies from using domestic violence as a pre-existing condition to deny health coverage. let's just think about that. in 2010 in the united states of america, a woman could be denied health care because she's gotten beat up by a husband or a boyfriend. that's wrong. that's unconscionable. that has to change and we are going to change it. i urge my colleagues to do what's right, stand with the american people who are sick and tired of waiting for congress to act on health care. vote no on the previous question and vote yes on the rule and i yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question. i ask to vote yes on the previous question and yes on the rule. i yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no.

in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. ms. foxx: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from north carolina. ms. foxx: on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, t

[inaudible] >> they're still going to spend $1 trillion to impose government-run health care on the american people. the american people want no part of it. so they can -- they can tweak this thing and tweak it. still, it's $1 trillion they're going to spend. half a trillion dollars in tax increases and another half a trillion dollars in medicare cuts, not to extend the medicare program, but to fund brand new combimet programs. the american people -- entitlement programs. the american people know we're broke. the last thing to do is put debt on the backs of our kids and

grandkids. >> i know they are trying to convince their members to vote for it on a second sort of fix it bill. if a fix it bill somehow made it out of the senate and if i were the house i wouldn't depend on the senate to solve the problem. they would have voted for the kickback, the purchase and the gatorade before they voted against the kickback, the purchase and the gatorade. by the way. i understand the fix it bill, which we have not seen it, isn't going to fix it. may or may not deal with the cornhusker matter, but i hear it's not going to deal with any of the others. so they compound the political problems. if they think they can get away of voting against these things after they voted for them.

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>> you will do it all on sunday. >> we can't it. at this point we don't expect to do it. we'll do it on sunday, late sunday. >> ok. so the rule would be sunday afternoon and the vote. the committee update. >> so the committee would vote. >> the committee would meet on saturday. >> ok.

>> and then the vote would happen on sunday to bring it to the floor? >> yes. >> this would be the rule -- the rule >> would self-execute the bill. >> this would be the bill that says unless reconciliation is passed the senate bill is not. there are protections to make sure that the senate bill is changed. >> can you explain that to us? >> sure. >> how it's going to work. >> obviously so complicated. can you explain -- >> obviously it's not. it's not that complicated. it's been used here forever. this notion that this is some brand new thing we brought out of the cave is nonsense. it's been used every term i think since i've been here over and over again. what we are saying is that the senate bill will be passed by the house on the passage of reconciliation. if the senate bill is changed so we can -- that is so objectionable -- all those other excessive things that we don't want to have an end -- did not do anything for health care. and the senate in return we have -- we have a majority of senators with some way they're going to do -- send us a letter

or something to say that they absolutely support the reconciliation bill that we passed. >> but it would be one vote on -- one vote that will be self-executing on the senate bill -- >> the vote on the rule and then there is the vote of the reconciliation. >> are you looking for a change in the senate bill -- is there any possibility you are doing it? >> no. you can't -- [no audio] >> sure, the congressional budget office is going to come back. the big news is that it will

release the second 10 years by even more the house and the -- $1.2 trillion, the largest deficit reduction -- the votes -- >> it's a very important peace. i'd say the one theme that ran through the concerns of most of our members which -- the budget deficit is going forward. the c.b.o., the referee says it will reduce the deficit in the second 10 years. it has the provisions in it that will bend the cost curves and make sure that the health care fund is sufficient to meet the obligations. >> it's not about reducing the deficit. it's more specifically about cost containment because that's what i'm hearing. >> it's a combination. what it does is accomplishes

both of those objectives. >> what is the reaction by some of them. >> we didn't have a lot of up or down. they were getting the information and having talked to a lot of our colleagues, i know this is one of the big issues they've been wanting to see. >> how did you raise the money? >> on cost containment, for example, when it comes to medicare advantage, overpayments in the system now, this would restrain further and then provisiones that would reduce the rate of increases in medicare costs over a period of time. >> did the excise tax change? >> there are provisions that would contain the cost over time in the outyears. >> by doing what? >> it has to do with the inflation factor and they were bring those costs down.

>> my idea is to bend that cost curve. >> congressman, what do you think? >> i'm encouraged about the numbers, the deficit. $1.2 trillion in the second 10-year period and $130 billion in next 10 years. i'm very happy about the numbers. >> will you be voting for it. make sure they crossed every t and dotted every i. >> was there a message? >> do you want to -- was there a message this r that she delivered to you on.

>> she was encouraged about this as well. that moves me. i'm not there yet until i read the final version. >> so reaction from a number of democrats following a caucus meeting this morning. just a reminder that the house is in recess. they're likely to come about about 12:30 eastern waiting for a number of members to return from the white house for a bill signing ceremony. we will have live house coverage when they -- when they do return. we are also aiming to bring you live coverage of speaker pelosi. she has a briefing scheduled for 12:15 eastern. we are likely to hear more about the congressional budget office cost estimate about health care legislation. you heard in some of those comments there. $940 billion. you can read it now posted on our website at c-span.org. it happened just a few minutes ago at the white house.

president obama signing an $18 billion jobs bill just passed this week by the u.s. senate. going to show that to you. runs about 15 minutes. >> ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states. >> good morning, everybody. please have a seat.

well, on this beautiful morning we are here to mark the passage of a welcomed piece of legislation for our fellow americans who are seeking work in this difficult economy. but first let me say a few words about the latest development and the debate over health insurance reform. i don't know if you guys have been hearing but there's been a big debate going on here. this morning an estimate from the c.b.o. crobe -- snoop [applause] >> this is -- [applause]

i urge every member of congress to prepare for their important vote this weekend. i want to welcome all the members of congress, majority leader reid, as well as some of the cabinet members who are here. i will sign what is called a hire act, a jobs bill that will encourage businesses to hire and help put americans back to work. and i'd like to say what this jobs bill will mean for workers, for businesses and for america's economic recovery. there are a number of ways to look at an economic recovery. through the eyes of an economist, you look at the different stages of recovery. you look at whether an economy has begun to grow and whether businesses have begun to hire temporary workers or increase the hours of existing workers. you look at whether businesses, small and large, have begun to

hire full-time employees again. that's how economists measure a recovery. and by both measures remember beginning to move in the right direction. but through the eyes of most americans, recovery is about something more fundamental. do i have a decent job? can i provide for my family? do i feel a sense of financial security? it's a great recession that we've just gone through, took a terrible toll on the middle class. and on our economy as a whole. for every one of the over eight million people who lost their jobs in recent years is a story of struggle. a family choosing to pay their electricity bill or the car bill or their child's college tuition, weddings, vacations and retirement that's been postponed. so here's a good news. a consensus is forming part

because of the necessary and often unpopular measures we took over the past year, our economy is now growing again and we may soon be adding jobs instead of losing them. the jobs bill i'm signing today is intended to help accelerate that process. i'm signing it mindful that as i said before the solution to our economic problems will not come from government alone. government can't create all the jobs we need to -- or can it repair all the damage that's been done by this recession. but what we can do is promote a strong, dynamic private sector, the true engine of job creation in our economy. we can help to provide an impetus for america's businesses to start hiring again. we can nurture the conditions that allow companies to succeed and to grow. that's exactly what this jobs bill will help us do. now, make no mistake, while this jobs bill is not only

necessary but it's not enough. we need to do more to spur hiring in the private sector and bring back full economic recovery, from helping credit-worthy small businesses from getting loans that they need to expand, by offering things to make homes and businesses more energy efficient and put americans back to work that america needs done. nevertheless, this jobs bill will make a difference in several important ways. first, they will forgive payroll taxes that will hire someone who's been out of work for at least two months. this is something that happened at the end of last month to the end of the year. it says to employers, if you hire a worker who is unemployed you won't have to pay payroll taxes for that worker for the rest of the year. and businesses move quickly to hire today will get a bigger tax credit than businesses who wait later this year. this tax cut will be helpful to

small business owners. many of them are on the fence right now about whether to bring in that extra worker or two. or whether they should hire anyone at all. and this jobs bill should help make their decision that much easier. and by the way, i'd like to note that part of what health insurance reform would do is to provide tax credits for over four million small businesses so they don't have to choose between hiring workers and offering coverage of the the second thing this bill does is encourage small businesses to grow and to hire by permitting them to write off investments they make in equipment this year. these kinds of expenses typically take years to depreciate, but under this law businesses will be able to invest up to $250,000, let's say ins a piece of factory equipment, and write it off right away. put simply, will give businesses an incentive to invest in their own future and to do it today. third, we'll reform municipal

bonds to surge job creation by expanding businesses in schools and clean energy projects. say a town wants to put a town to work to rebuild crumbling elementary schools or putting up wind turbines. this bill will make it easier for them to raise the money to do what they want to do by using a model that we called build america box. one of the most successful programs in the recovery act. we'll give americans a better chance to invest in the future of their communities and of the country. this jobs bill will make crucial investments in our roads and i want to commend all the members of congress and their leadership is what made this bill possible. many of them are here today. i'm also gratified that over a dozen republicans agreed that the need for this jobs bill was urgent and that they were willing to break out of the partisan morass to help us take

this forward step for the american people. i hope this is a prelude to further cooperation in the days and months to come as we continue to work on digging our way out of the recession and rebuilding our economy in a way that works for all americans and not just some americans. after all, the jobs bill i am signing today are broader efforts to achieve a recovery aren't about politics. they're not about democrats versus republicans. this isn't a game that we're playing here.

>> all right, everybody. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010]

[inaudible] >> thank you. >> good to see you. [inaudible]

>> a rose garden signing the senate jobs bill from just a while ago at the white house. and that's why the u.s. house is in recess, a number of members, as you can see, at that signing. when they return, that's expected to be about 12:30 eastern or so. later today a number of land and water bills and we will have that live for you, the how it's live when they gavel back in -- the house live when they gavel back in. earlier today the congressional budget office just a short while ago released the cost estimate on health care legislation. we have posted that on our website, c.b.o. saying the 10-year cost of the bill, $940 billion, read more about that online at c-span.org. we are also likely to hear more about that from speaker pelosi. her news briefing is coming up in about 10 minutes at 12:15 eastern and we aim to have that live for you. a flavor of some of the health care debate from earlier today. not only today, the house taking up land and parks bills

but all of the debates so far about health care legislation. here's some of that while we here's some of that while we wait for speaker pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: , madam speaker, -- madam speaker, h.res. 1190 authorizes the house consider suspension rules from may time march 21, 2010, this rule is negligence because of the clause 1-a of rule 15, the speaker may entertain motions to suspend the rules only on monday, tuesday, or wednesday of each week. the rule also provides that the speaker shall consult with the minority leader on the designation of any matter considered for suspension. in order for suspensions to be considered on other days, the rules committee must authorize consideration of these motions. i want to remind my colleagues that any legislation passed under suspension of the rules still must receive at least a 2/3 vote. this rule will help us move important bipartisan legislation before we recess for the upcoming district work period.

a list of suspension bills will be provided by the majority leader at the appropriate time. we expect a number of important bills to be considered. additionally, we expect the rules committee to meet again to make several other rules in order. before i reserve my time, let me just state the obvious, we are waiting for the health care bill to ripen and be ready for floor consideration. while we wait, there is business this house must attend to and this rule helps us do that. let me be clear, we will vote on the health care bill in the next few days. we will do so with the publicly released c.b.o. score that shows that health care bill does not increase the deficit and it reduces the deficit and we'll do so while allowing 72 hours for anyone who wants to read and analyze the bill before we vote on it. we will do so knowing that we will ensure 32 million people who currently lack health insurance today. madam speaker, this rule simply allows the house to conduct business until the health care

bill is ready to be brought to the floor for a final vote a. vote which i'm confident will prevail. i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my colleague for yielding time. madam speaker, we are on the cusp of voting on legislation to permit a federal government takeover of 1/6 of the nation's economy. this is the most significant piece of legislation in our generation. the american people get that and they do not want this bill. they want health reform that makes sense and will make health care more affordable and accessible. when the chairwoman of the rules committee, ms. slaughter, flooded the proposed slaughter solution last week, the outcry was immediate. you would think that my colleagues would take their title of representatives seriously and want to listen to the american people and have an open process.

that's why i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question today so that we can amend this rule to allow the house to consider h.res. 1188. this resolution sponsored by mr. griffith will ensure an up or down vote on the senate's health care takeover by preventing the speaker from using the slaughter solution to ram the senate health care bill through the house bypassing regular order. the american people do not want the senate bill and neither do most members in this chamber. the american people deserve an open process and an up or down vote. voting no on the previous question, members will be on the record opposing the slaughter solution and voting to allow for consideration of a remedy aimed at protecting against this attempt to ram through the democrat plan to socialized medicine. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment and stroorl --

extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. foxx: thank you, madam speaker. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. mcgovern: madam speaker, let me just state for the record that this has been an incredibly open process. when i contrast it to the way my friends on the other side of the aisle handled a similar bill related to health care, that was the prescription drug bill, i don't know what they are complaining about. when they brought up the prescription drug bill, this is what it looked like. and it was given to the rules committee, less than an hour before we were asked to vote for it. it was rushed to the floor, a total of 27 hours before the time it was brought to the rules committee and members were asked to vote on the bill. contrast that to what we have done on this health insurance reform effort. president obama began with a health care summit at the beginning of 2009, republicans and democrats were invited and

participated. over the past year and a half, the house held nearly 100 hours of hearings and 83 hours of committee markups. we heard from 181 witnesses. both democrat and republican. 239 amendments were considered. 121 amendments were adopted. this is the big lie that we are hearing from the other side that somehow this has been a closed process. the rules committee will convene on the health insurance reform bill with c-span cameras present. so this has been an incredibly open process. i commend the speaker of the house and chairwoman of the rules committee for this open process. in contrast to the way they did their prescription drug bill and just shoved it before the rule)á%'4tln b by some of the big insurance companies in this country, that

routinely deny people coverage for the most silly reasons. they do it because they can. in some states, madam speaker, believe it or not insurance companies consider domestic violence as a pre-existing condition. i mean, does anybody here think that that's acceptable? in the state of north carolina, they're one of the states that still allow domestic violence against women to be used as an excuse to deny somebody health insurance. that's unconscionable. and the bill that we are talking about will fix that. you know, they were in charge of this place for a lot of years, too many years, if you ask me. they drove this economy into a ditch. and during all of that time they did nothing, nothing to deal with the rising costs of health insurance that families and small businesses face every single day. they did nothing about denying insurance companies from denying people insurance

because of pre-existing conditions. they did nothing to deal with this issue that domestic violence in some states, including the state of north carolina, can be used as a pre-existing condition to deny somebody health care. so, we need to do what's right for the american people and enough of the misinformation. and enough of the lies and enough of the distortions. we need to do what the people want and that is fix this health insurance industry that we have in this country that quite frankly has denied millions and millions of people in this country, even to those who have insurance have found out that they've been wheeled to the operating room that their insurance doesn't cover what they thought. time now is for reform and we're going to do that. i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. my colleague across the aisle talks about what the state of north carolina does and does not do.

maybe changes need to be made in the state of north carolina, but that's up to the state of north carolina. this is a federal government takeover which is inappropriate. but let me talk about the aarp and what they do about pre-existing conditions because our colleagues have put a special carve-out in this bill for the aarp and they deny access with pre-existing conditions by imposing waiting periods on medigap plans. they have a tremendous turndown on pre-existing conditions and medicare turns down more people, twice as many people, as the insurance companies do as they want to put us all in medicare-type plans. my colleague is a little disingenuous when he brings up selective situations like this. i now would like to yield such time as he may consume to my distinguished colleague from california, the ranking member of the rules committee, mr.

dreier. >> the gentleman from california is recognized for as much time as he may consume. >> unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. >> without objection. >> madam speaker, i thank my friend for yielding and of course congratulate her on her fine management of this extraordinarily important rule. because of what we're going to be doing when we deal with the previous question. now, before i get to that i'd like to engage in a colloquy if i might with my good friend from worcester and say that we've had this constant drumbeat of us versus them, class warfare, the democrats are for the people, the republicans are only for the insurance companies. i mean, we continue to hear that over and over and over again. so what i'd like to do, madam speaker, is to disabuse my friend and others on the other side of the aisle and many people in the media who continue to put forth this argument. by saying that when the charge that we've tried to do nothing to deal with this issue is out

there, that is crazy. and, madam speaker, i'd like to go through a few of the things that we have done that are designed to bring the cost of health insurance down, to make sure, to make sure that more americans have access to quality health insurance. let's begin by something that i introduced and i'm happy to say we have put into law. i introduced it 23 years ago, in 1987. the first bill to call for the establishment of medical savings accounts which incentivize americans to put more dollars aside, to save, to plan for direct health care costs or health insurance costs. the second thing that we've done, i'm very proud of the work product to medicare part d, by ensuring that more seniors have access to affordable prescription drugs. but, madam speaker, what i'd like to do is talk about a couple of things that we have worked on and when we were in

the majority that we passed through this house but unfortunately were blocked by my friends on the other side of the aisle in the other body. those two things are, number one, a -- society health plans. president obama has said that he believes that the notion of allowing small businesses to come together to pool so that they can have the benefit of lower insurance rates is something that he finds somewhat appealing and yet when we pass that -- passed that in this house, sent it to the other body, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle chose, unfortunately, to block that measure and what is it that has happened? we've seen an increase in the number of people who don't have health insurance in this country because of the fact that democrats in the other body chose to block our establishment of associate health plans so that small businesses out there can come together. and the second issue, which

again the president stood here in his address to the joint session of congress, madam speaker, and talked about, he believed was important for us to utilize and that is real lawsuit abuse reform. now, unfortunately one of the reasons that we see this dramatic increase in health care costs is that, what's happened? many doctors and listen to the many doctors who have to engage in defensive medicine. they have to constantly pry all kinds of tests which are unnecessary but they do it for one reason, madam speaker, and that is they do it because they're afraid of being sued. now, madam speaker, in the last republican congress, in our attempt to bring the cost of health insurance down, we passed out of this house real lawsuit abuse reform legislation. it was blocked in the other body by our democratic

colleagues. and so this notion that was put forward by my friend that we somehow have done absolutely nothing to deal with the plight of those americans who don't have access to quality health insurance is propostrouse. and, madam speaker, we've heard about this issue of transparency and disclosure and accountability and i listen to my friend from wofter argue that we've had -- worcester argue that we've had this great deal of transparency. i ask you, madam speaker, why is it that the american people are saying that we should start over and we should in fact have a process that is transparent and open? never before, never before in the history of the republic have we seen the process that is being contemplated used on such a massive issue and on the signature issue of an administration. we all know that this is the

signature issue that has been put forth, argued for more than a year and now what we've had is the speaker and the majority leader and the distinguished chairwoman of the house committee on rules say that it is acceptable for us to completely deny accountability, to avoid accountability and to prevent members from actually being responsible for the votes that they cast. well, madam speaker, the american people get it. no matter how diligently they worked overtime in the backrooms in this capitol to block any opportunity for transparency, the american people are able to see through what it is that they're doing. it's one of the great benefits of the new technology that exists today and the fact that there are democrats as well as republicans who are decrying this. i joked with my friend from grandfather communities that sometimes i watch the programs

on the television that are maybe a little left of center and i'm proud to to do that. i watch them with regulator. and i listened to a number of their commentators who would in no way be considered supporters of the republican vision that is out there actually say that it is wrong, it is wrong for democrats to go down this road of self-executing this massive, massive bill. they're arguing for transparency and disclosure and accountability and i believe that it makes a great deal of sense. when we defeat the previous question and i hope, madam speaker, we'll be able to do that, we will take, we will take the initiative that has been launched by our newest republican colleague, partner griffith, who has come forward and offered a proposal to say that if we're going to debate this health care bill we should have an up or down vote and we should have extended debate

because the process that's being contemplated right now, madam speaker, would not allow one single minute of debate on the floor of the people's house to debate the health care bill. floor of the house to debate the health care bill. the only thing we would debate is 30 minutes on either side on the special rule that would come to the house rule. so, madam speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question and when we do that we will bring up and allow a vote on the griffith proposal that will ensure that we'll have an up or down vote on the health care issue and the kind of free flowing debate that the american people deserve. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from -- the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: give me a break that somehow republican ideas have helped anybody

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> a briefing from the capitol. live coverage just getting under way here on c-span. >> good afternoon. they say a picture is worth 1,000 words. well, a number is worth a lot, too. i love numbers. and today the number from the congressional budget office is that this health insurance reform legislation will save $138 billion in the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years, speaks very eloquently to the deficit reduction that is in our package. it also strengthens medicare, we'll talk more about some other provisions in the bill a little bit later today. it will be online.

also speaking eloquently to the need for this legislation in terms of the health of america are the guests who are with us today. i'm very pleased that we're joined -- joined by ed morris, ken mcdolsky and caroline komo. their personal stories tell the eloquent story of why health care is needed to make america healthier, to lower costs for america's families' budget while we lower the cost to the federal budget. we always said there were two reasons to do health care reform. one, it was about the health of the american people, to improve quality, to lower costs, to expand coverage and to do so in a way that held the insurance companies accountability -- accountable. the second reason, of course, was to reduce the deficit. the president had said that health care reform is entitlement reform, that there's no way we could continue on the course we are

on, it is unsustainable in terms of the amounts of debt that will be heaped onto future generations unless we intervene with this legislation. again, let me yield to one of our guests today, ed morris. ed is from north carolina and i want him to tell his own personal story. >> thank you so much. my name is dr. ed morris. my wife and i own a small business in the little town of franklin in western north carolina. as you probably know, more than half of small businesses no longer provide health insurance at all to their employees. well, why is at that? well, our premiums for our business over the last 10 years tripled. this is a huge cost for our business every year to pay these health insurance premiums. but why are our premiums so

high? well, we as a small business are in such a pool that we cannot spread these costs around. one of our employees has cardiac bypass surgery about eight years ago. well, the next year when the insurance company got these legitimate medical bills our premiums went out the roof the next year. so, to keep offering coverage to our employees we had to do two things. first of all, we had to raise our deductibles from $250 to $3,000 for an individual and secondly we used to pay 100% of the premiums for our employees but in order to continue to have coverage we now require employees to pay up to 40% of their own premiums and many of them simply can't afford that. well, what will this bill do to help news is first of all, we'll be in a big pool, so our costs will be much lower. and secondly it will prohibit

insurance companies from raising our premiums if an employee gets ill and actually has to use the insurance. and third and probably most importantly for me as a small business owner, beginning this year i'll receive tax credits of up to 35% to help cover the cost of these premiums. this will help me continue to provide health insurance for my employees and possibly to hire some new employees and to grow my business. our congressional district has one of the highest rates of uninsured of anywhere in the country, 23% are uninsured in our district. we have over 700 bankruptcies every year just in our congressional district. and every year hundreds of my friends and neighbors suffer because of lack of adequate health insurance and these hundreds of medicaly related bankruptcies and this huge burden that us small businesses

have, businesses just like mine, in our little mountains in north carolina, so i'm here as a small business owner to urge my congressman, congressman shore, and democrats and republicans to do the right thing, to help us small business owners to do the right thing for our employees, to do the right thing for our local economies and to do the right thing to reduce our national deficit. so i'm urging congress to say yes to this health care bill this week and now i'll turn it over to leader hoyer. >> thank you very much. >> that dr. morris was excellent and he made all the point it's, i'm going to make them again because they bear

repeating. first of all, as the speaker pointed out, we now that in trying to stabilize this economy, grow jobs and get our country back to work, we've had to incur deficits. we know that the fiscal soundness that we had in the 1990's was dissipated in the last 10 years. we need to get back to balance. this bill is the biggest deficit reduction bill that any member of congress is going to have the opportunity to vote on. $138 billion in the next 10 years and over the next 20 years, $2.2 trillion-plus reduction in the deficit. excuse me, $1.4 trillion reduction in the deficit. what does it doer for me?

how does it impact me and my family and my security and my availability of health care? first of all, let me talk about small business. america has the highest health care costs in the world. and that's not just harmful to america's families who see their premiums rise year after year as dr. morris pointed out. it's harmful to our job-creating small businesses who see mounting competition from foreign companies with lower health care costs who face the painful choice between laying off employees and dropping their health care coverage. health insurance reform helps relieve that burden. health insurance reform helps relieve that burden. where individuals and the small

businesses will be able to pool together for the same purchasing power and lower rates that have only been available to the biggest businesses, small businesses will also see a $40 billion in tax credits. dr. morris spoke to that as well, which will help him provide health insurance for his employees. that's good for dr. morris but by the way it's very good for his employees and their families. if we pass health insurance reform as we will on sunday those tax credits will begin to kick in immediately but if reform fails the trend of shrinking coverage will continue. according to the robert woods johnson foundation the number of small business employees who can buy plans through work will be cut nearly in half by 2020. from 41% today to 23% in 10 years. now, what does that speak to? people say, look, i've got insurance now, why am i

concerned about this bill? they're concerned about the bill because they're losing it at a rapid rate, because the businesses for whom they work can't keep it. and if they can keep it, they have to lower benefits very substantially, increase co-pays and premiums very substantially. and people are being priced out of the marketplace. so i'm very pleased to be here with dr. morris. but i'm also pleased to be here with kim who's going to be speaking to us from moreton grove, illinois. kim, thank you having for joining us to give us your perspective. >> hi, i'm kim from morten grove, illinois. aglee phobia is a fear of pain. iatr phobia is a fear of doctors but i have yet to define a word of my biggest fear, fear of pre-existing conditions. my fear of pre-existing conditions began years ago when

i was diagnosed with a syndrome. an auto immune disease that causes dry eyes and dry mouth. my illness seemed more of a nuisance than a health crisis, so i was shocked when after my husband's employer went bankrupt and we lost our medical coverage i was repeatedly told that i was uninsurable gue to this condition. that was back in 2001 when i was 33 years old. eventually my husband found a job with benefits. after a period of time my faulty immune system was covered in full which was helpful because by then i had developed rheumatoid arthritis. still, once it was diagnosed i found -- and i found the right combination of medicines, life continued at a normal pace. we were happy to have medical insurance but we didn't have a great policy. we had a $5,000 deductible for our family and with two young children underfoot we often med that -- met that deductible. at one point i realized our high cost, high deductible

policy penalized us for using the plan. by using the mail order pharmacy it cost me over $2,000 a year for certain medications of certain arthritis drugs. on my doctor's recommendation, i checked the prices at the local costco. it turned out that this same drug cost me less than $300 a year without my insurance at costco. in the fall of 2008 my husband lost his job and eventually his benefits. this time i felt fortunate to find a private insurance -- a private insurer saving me the expense of the state plans. however, like many policies, it does not provide coverage on the issues that matter most to my family. even my 9-year-old son has a pre-existing condition that's not covered. and of course my arthritis, well, they accepted me into a plan with a special deductible for arthritis-related treatment. knowing that this typically only involves a couple of thousands of dollars of

treatment a year, we felt ok with that. however, it wasn't until after we signed on the dotted line, the only dotted line that was available to cover my entire family, that we learned this deductible, which i assumed was $5,000 or $10,000 was actually a $65,000 deductible. a $65,000 deductible for the most pressing medical condition in my family. it's not creaky bones that keep me awake at night. it's the fear of developing a condition related to my arthritis that could send us tumbling into bankruptcy. although i have some coverage, i have a fear of unexpected news, odd test results, a new diagnosis. i have a fear of a new pre-existing condition, a phobia without a name. although we pay several hundred dollars a month for access to quality care, i'm afraid to use it. i often ignore minor aches and pains, i've held off on some scheduled blood tests and exams and i worry that my attempt to save a few dollars now could

cost me dealer in the future if miner problems spiral into larger ones. but ironically, as long as people with pre-existing conditions can be denied coverage, spending money on doctor visits and tests to solve problems early on could actually cost more dealer in the future. i will now turn it over to cliff clyburn. >> thank you very much. a few months ago i participated in a radio call down in south carolina. a gentleman called in and said he liked his insurance and he didn't want us to change the system. the next caller was a woman who said that she had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. and for me she crystalized what this debate is all about. she said, i thought i liked my

insurance, too, until i tried to use it. and went on to talk about receiving an awful letter canceling her coverage at her second treatment. people like that woman in south carolina and kim who are struggling with serious illnesses suffer under the current unfair practices of insurance companies. it's time to bring an end to discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. it's time to bring an end to rescissions or dropping coverage when a person gets a catastrophic illness. and the time to bring an end to the fear that many americans have that if they lose their job or they change jobs they cannot get health coverage. it's time to do what generations before us could not

accomplish. it's time to pass health insurance reform. ms. johnson. >> good afternoon. my name is stella johnson. and i am a retired school teacher from washington, d.c. i am also a member of the alliance for retired americans. like many seniors i must take prescriptions every day to manage my high blood pressure and high cholesterol. but unfortunately, along with over three million other seniors, i am in what is known as the medicare doughnut hole. for several months of the year i have to pay full price for my prescriptions even though i am still paying my medicare premiums.

in other words, i pay the money but get nothing in return. for an example, in 2008 i received a letter from my insurance company stating that i would not receive any money for my medicine during the month of december. now, you know how that is, that is supposed to be a very joyful month. however, i found myself doing that kind quite desperate for i was not received any money until the new year for my insurance began. i had to use my utility bill money in order to buy my medicine and then in order to catch up these bills i had to even go to borrow money from my food money. i became quite desperate and i

didn't know what to do. because in times like this it's very hard for me to make ends meet. i had to choose between taking the medicines i need and paying my monthly bills. because my prescription costs so much i fall behind on some of these bills. but i get hit with late penalties, things even get worse. the health care bill will help seniors like me who struggle every day to afford the prescriptions they must have. retirees aall -- all across the country desperately need this bill to pass right away. thank you. now, i'd like to turn it over to chairman lawson. >> thank you, stella. said so eloquently as have all of our guests this afternoon.

all of our guests this afternoon understand that this very important vote before us is in so many respects, who's side are you on? and the vote this week will demonstrate clearly which side democrats are on in the united states congress. we hope that our colleagues on the other side, when hearing the same compelling stories that we know all of their districts hear, will join us. stella points out very clearly what happens to those who find themselves in the dreaded doughnut hole. we're going to end that process beginning to correct it and solving it completely. we're going to extend solvency of medicare, a program that

this party of ours is so proud of. we will not private advertise social security or -- privatize social security or voucher medicare, we're going to continue to make it solvent. we're going to improve the quality of senior care with better coordination amongst doctors, coordinated care, i just left a group of hospitals, is the most important thing, with the innovation and sipse that we have at our ability to make sure that they don't experience the senior shuffle, that they actually get the care and attention in the coordinated manner that they need. that they won't have to any longer co-pay or pay for a very simple -- for very simple, preventative procedures, whether a checkup or important screenings that the elderly need. and expand home and community-based services to keep seniors in their homes instead of nursing homes. that's why we're so proud of this legislation. the speaker spoke at yale with

rosa delauro about the importance, significance and the impact of this legislation on women and we're going to hear from caroline komo who will further explain that. >> thank you. caroline komo. i live in asheville, north carolina. i was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago at age 45. i got the diagnosis call as my husband was on an important job interview for a position that would allow us to have good, high-quality benefits. thank heaven he got those benefits on that job. however, seven months later he was laid off, he works in the construction industry which was hard hit in our state, and laid off in the middle moof -- of my treatment. we had no choice but to get benefits through cobra and that was $1,058 a month for 18 months. we looked to the individual market for private insurance,

we did not qualify for medicaid and had a disastrous meeting with representative from a company who quoted us, $2,000-plus a month for me only. you feel in a sense tainted. being a woman should not be a pre-existing condition. it's hard to describe the stress of going through a catastrophic illsness and the side effects of the treatment that you receive and worrying about the insurance mess at the same time and how you're going to make it through as a family. the light on the horizon that we fought was the north carolina high risk pool. i currently pay into that $400 a month, i have a $5,000 deductible. however, my oncologist's office does not -- is not a member, is not affiliated with that program, and the latest update is that i just got word that there is an exclusionary policy with the high risk pool for the

genetic testing that my doctors want me to have which would possibly impact my treatment and my future course as well as the futures of my children. and the final highlight is that recently my husband and i did our taxes and as we sat down and saw everything in black and white, we saw that very nearly half our income went to health-related costs. and that is just for me. my children are on the north carolina chip program and my husband is uninsured. so the bottom line is, the reality, if you're healthy, you get insurance, if you get sick, there's no option. you then have a pre-existing condition, there's no place to turn. insurance should help everyone, including those who need it. there's no real option in a private market for people with pre-existing conditions. so i urge and urge strongly

that congress make the humane choice for our country and pass this health care reform bill, plain and simple it's a broken system and it continues to leave a trail of families whose finances have been decimated by the system. thank you. i'll turn it over to speaker pelosi. >> mr. hoyer has to go away on business. thank you very much. thank you very much, caroline, for sharing your personal story with us. thank you, ed morris, thank you, kim, thank you, stella johnson, for your eloquence. in speaking for many people in our country. we talk about reduction of the deficits, putting money in the bank. there are many stories, millions of stories in the story bank that talk about how people have been denied coverage, have coverage

canceled, have coverage rescinded when they're practically on the gurney on the way into the operating room. the caroline was speaking about women and i want to say something about that as well and what this legislation is about. beginning of her remarks she said to the effect that being a woman is a pre-existing condition. i will go further than that and just say, if you're of child-bearing age and you've had children as i did, i had five children in six years, they told me i was a poor risk. i thought i was showing my strength. if you can't have children, you have a pre-existing condition. if you have a c-section you have a pre-existing condition, if you have -- are a victim of domestic abuse, you have a pre-existing condition. this legislation ends that. and it ends discrimination based on gender as well as pre-existing conditions. women are charged now nearly 50% more than men for the same

coverage. with reform in place it will be illegal for insurance companies to use gender ratings. no one will be denied coverage or charged higher premiums because of a pre-existing condition and that includes having a c-section or being a victim of domestic violence. this legislation ensures the rich treatment and care women need, ensures that that is affordable and accessible. fewer than half of women can obtain affordable insurance through a job. fewer than half of women can obtain affordable coverage insurance through a job. more than half of women reported daily -- delaying needed care due to high cost compared with 39% of men. this eliminates co-pays ants deductibles in many cases for recommended preventative services and that's an important part of this. so here we are. we believe that the best

initiative that we can take to reduce the deficit is to pass health care reform. the best initiative that we can take to strengthen medicare and improve care bet -- benefits for our seniors, closing the doughnut hole, is to pass health care reform. we believe, excuse me, we believe that the best initiative we can take to create jobs, strengthen our economic security, is health care reform. the best initiative we can take to keep america competitive, to have our economy he energized by people following theirs a separations, taking risks, being entrepreneurial, but not hampered by not having health insurance is to pass health care reform. for the health and well-being of the american people, for the fiscal soundness of america's budget, for seniors, for our young people, for women, for small businesses and for competitiveness which will make history and we will make

progress by passing this legislation. later today it will be up -- excuse me. it's water. we'd be pleased to take any questions. >> madam speaker, you have the largest democratic majority in more than a generation. why are you having such a hard time getting 216 votes? and if this is going to show, this vote is going to show whose side you're on, who side are the democrats voting no, whose side are they on? >> as i've said to you before, every vote around here is a heavy lift and many times whether it's the budget or energy or whatever it is, every vote is a heavy lift. we have great diversity in our caucus, we don't have a rubber stamp congress or a rubber stamp caucus. so we have our full airing of issues. members want to see this

figures, they want to see what the senate will do. we like the dynamic in our caucus. also, and the second part, it also does show the impact of a campaign of misrepresentation of fear that is going out there. there is no limit to what the other side will do to protect the insurance companies and that is what came out, i think, at the president's summit when he said, he came out and said that the difference is, you're for regulating the insurance companies or you're for protecting the insurance companies. we're for regulating them. >> -- $900 billion, you can tell us off the top of your head how this is going to be paid for? is this a surtax on the wealthy? medicare, payroll tax? how is it going to be paid for? >> what i want you to do is to go to the website in about an hour or so later today.

the republican will be complete from the c.b.o. and our analysis of it and we will put it up on the website. but basically most of the legislation, the biggest -- one biggest covering of the cost comes from cutting waste, fraud and abuse. largely in medicare. over $500 billion comes from that. the remainder of the money come from a number of things, one of the vic sict -- victories that we have in the house is that our members did not like the excise tax on insurance plans. we thought it hurt the middle class. there was a debate about that, so the higher end of that is less in the plan, i call it the platinum rolls-royce piece of it, the rest will be covered by medicare fee he on unearned income. medicare free on unearned income. medicare fee on unearned income, whatever category that

is. the third piece of it is that there will be -- well, it's not a pay for, it's about coverage. you have to look there. but that's the main thrust. cut mainly from medicare waste fraud and abuse, no cuts in benefits, no increase in premiums. just waste, fraud and abuse. this is essential in order to strengthen medicare and in this legislation we will make it solvent for nine more years. there are some other pieces to it that will be in there but the main piece is the medicare fee. it's help for health. we had a surcharge at the high end in our bill. this is a health fee on unearned income. and some other features in there as well. >> many times that one of the things that was most important to house democrats was -- [inaudible] that were in the senate bill. so, did you remove the nebraska

issue? did you remove the money for hospitals? did you remove extra money for -- [inaudible] medicare advantage, things like that. is there everything removed? >> you will see, ok, let me talk about what the deal is. largely the difference between the house and the senate bills that have been corrected are the following. we did not believe that the senate bill had enough on affordability. so there's more affordability for the middle class in the legislation -- in the reconciliation package that we'll pass. secondly we did not like the state inequities. it's a category. and this bill corrects the state inequity by making the medicare -- excuse me, medicaid reimbursements more fair to all of the states. that also includes reward -- do-gooder states who had been out there before making an advance of this bill, making changes to reward them for

that. third, in that medicare -- medicaid piece is funding for primary care doctors who handle medicaid cases. so that we're not adding more people to medicaid without adding the opportunity for more doctors to provide services. the next piece of it was to close the doughnut hole. we talked about some of these things by way of our guests here today. but to close the doughnut hole. for those who are not seniors, as i am a senior, the doughnut hole is very important issue to us. and what it is is an undue burden on seniors in terms of prescription drugs and stella johnson spoke eloquently to that. thank you, stella. another feature of this is that we do not think that the senate bill went far enough in the insurance reform and that is something that we do in the bill. so in terms of the affordability for the middle

class, the reform's accountability for the insurance companies, the access to many more people that we talked about and the equity for the states, changing the excise tax which is a main feature, a complaint among many of our mens -- members, to a different pay for, those are the major changes in the bill. it's not a question of special deals. whatever is in there can be subjected to many people competing for it. there are caps. there's a comfort level with why they are in the legislation. we thought that nebraska was indeed a special deal. >> [inaudible] a little bit more cautious -- [inaudible] are you comfortable with saying the $1.2 trillion -- [inaudible] >> yes. let me say this. as you well know the c.b.o. is usually very conservative in its estimates.

they gave us no credit for prevention which we know will result in saving. in wellness initiatives and initiatives of that kind which will make people healthier and give us really a credit for early intervention so many more people can be attended to before -- more important than that, they're situation worsens. so we don't get any credit for some of the upside that we know is there. i'm going to yield to mr. larson because he's going to talk about health i.t. and the savings that that will have as well. >> if you look at any report that's come out recently, whether it's the rand corporation or reuters, reuters predicted back earlier this year $700 billion annually that's available to us. in the rand report they said, just in health information i.t. conservetively they guessed that there's around $500

billion to $700 billion worth of savings that can be accrued here. part of the things that we discussed in the rollout today was looking at hospitals in -- and the ability of us to coordinate care and by that we mean everything from interoperability to making sure that these cases are followed in a systemic manner with -- stam attic manner in the most -- systematic manner in the most up-to-date technology. that's where the savings are going to be and i dare say i think those are conservative estimates. >> [inaudible] >> i'm sorry, i didn't hear what he said. >> [inaudible] >> well, i haven't heard that he -- you're telling me that, but the fact is that what we're talking about here is the regular order that has been

used hundreds of times in the house and it's really a nonissue. but, again, the poisoning of the well that you see is again the length to which the other side -- the insurance companies will go. they will do anything to stop this legislation. they have made such a fortune off of the misfortune of the american people. we have played on their turf for decades without even a -- being subjected to the anti-trust laws and now they will be playing on the turf of the american people. the american people should know is that this is what they're going to see a full menu of in the next few days, misrepresentation, mischaracterizations because again they're poisoning the well before members even have a chance to see. there was no decision made about how we would proceed. we talked about various options, the options, the

decision would spring from what the c.b.o. report told us and the urgency is even greater now for us because we know the opportunity is greater. i'm pleased to yield. >> perhaps mr. lynch was referring to the more than 99 times that mr. gingrich used the process or the more than 106 times that hafter used it. but you know what our members are concerned about? they're concerned about what with our guests are. they're concerned about the process which finds their policies being rescinded. they're concerned about the process that finds their policies canceled because of pre-existing conditions or when found in a second way a policy is rated or actually taken away. stories that i'm lying on a gurney headed into a hospital and have your policy revoked. that's what our members are responding to and that's what americans are responding to all across the country and why this is so important. >> we feel very strong