ealth care law that will kill jobs and increase the size of our federal government. the bill calls for tax increases on american families, wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars and new mandates on small businesses. this is wrong. voters made it clear in november that business as usual must end. i submitted the necessary paperwork to decline the health care plan offered to members of congress. i rejected its benefits because washington must work just like the american people must work. we are not above them. i hope my actions i will energize the efforts to repeal the government-run health care law and i encourage my colleagues to vote yes on this bill and promote commonsense solutions of promoting health insurance across state lines, pooling small businesses to leverage purchasing power. thank you, madam chairman. .

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: at this time, i yield one minute to the gentleman from illinois, mr. walsh. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. walsh: i rise in support of h.r. 2, repealing the job-killing health care act. i commend the leadership for simplifying this process by drafting a two-page bill for repeal. it will be very clear where we stand on repeal. during this past campaign, i, like a lot of candidates, spoke to small businesses every single day. there's a reason why 90% of small business men and women in this country support repeal. from the billions in taxes to the needless paperwork to the burdensome regulations to the $1.6 million estimated job loss, small business men and women are adamant that we need to repeal. finally, madam speaker, our opposition last year said if you like your plan, you can keep it.

to date, there are 222 organizations, including some of obamacare's biggest supporters who have received waivers. why? why, if the law was so worthy, would there be a need for waivers? thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velazquez: i yield myself as much time as necessary. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. velazquez: as a result of this repeal legislation, small businesses in the state of illinois will see a tax increase of $1.7 billion. with that, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from connecticut, mr. murphy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. murphy: thank you very much. madam speaker, when i testified against this repeal before the rules committee, i told the story of a family in my district, the husband lost his job and therefore his insurance because of a debilitating snir. his -- injury.

the family faced a choice, either dip into their savings account, their high school son's college fund, or sell their house. they first chose to spend down their savings. when i told the story a republican said, whey they had money they had asset, i don't get it, why should someone else pay their bills? she didn't get it. no one should be forced on the street because one of their family members get sick. there is a moral imtertive to be our brother's keeper but there's a fiscal imperative. when that family's savings is done, they're out on the street, we all pick up the cost. small businesses pick up the cost. that's why small businesses are paying 18% more than big businesses. that's why about $1,100 of every premium goes to cover the uninsure. there are thousands of small businesses in connecticut

organized under the us a pises of a group called small businesses for health care reform calling -- crying out for this repeal to be defeated. they see the $260 billion price tag that's going to land on their head as well as the continuation of discriminatory practices that ask small businesses to pay for the uninsured like that family that i talked about. this bill isn't anything more than that political statement. families in my district, small businesses in my district, need more than politics. they need answers. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: madam speaker, at this time, i yield one minute to the gentleman from iowa, mr. king. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. king: i thank the chairman for yielding time. i listened to this delivery ahead of me, i spent 28 1/2 years in business, i met payroll over 1,400 consecutive weeks. i never saw a regulation that made my job easier or allowed me to make more money. this is thousands of pages of regulation, it's oppress toiv

small business, it should be called the entrepreneurial extinction act, not the health care plan. this is obamacare, it must be pulled out completely by the roots. the 34er7b people know this. that's why there are 87 freshman republicans on this side, nine freshmen democrats on this side. the american people have spoken resoundingly, it is our obligation to go down this path. it's not symbolic. it's very important. without this vote on this floor, we can't move forward with the rest of the scenario to eliminate obamacare. the language in the bill is simple. it concludes with this language. act is repealed and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such law are restored as if such act had never been enacted, close quote. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velez kezz: how much time is remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york has eight minutes remain, the gentleman from missouri has 11 minutes remaining.

ms. velez kezz: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from -- ms. velazquez: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new mexico. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> during these tough economic times it's critical we make job creation a top priority. that's why i'm concerned about the impact h.r. 2 will have on small businesses. it will repeal a tax credit for small businesses that offered health insurance to their employees. it would allow an insurer to deny business coverage if their employees have pre-existing conditions. mr. lujan: as a result of reform, new mexicans no longer face this. if this is repealed, having cancer, diabetes or being a victim of domestic violence will be cause for losing health care. people like yvonne from santa fe would have to worry about losing their health care.

yvonne lost her job when the company she worked for was shipped overseas. she was diabetic and because of the high cost of cobra, she was fored to ration her medicine. as a result, she became gravely ill and had to visit the emergency room. her doctors noticed another problem that required further examination yet because yvonne could not afford cobra and because private insurance companies would not insure her because she had diabetes, the hospital released her. the only option yvonne had was to wait two months to be seen at the university of new mexico hospital. she was diagnosed with a form of lung cancer that would have been caught earlier had she not been kicked out. she passed away from complications resulting from the cancer having suffered through a system that discriminated against her we cannot return to the days when people like yvonne are forced to suffer because of insurance companies' bad practice. let's not turn a blind eye on people lie e-- like yvonne. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri.

mr. graves: thank you, madam speaker. at this time, i yield one minute to the gentlelady from north carolina a nurse and the new chairwoman of the subcommittee on health care and technology, mrs. ellmers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mrs. ellmers: i ask unanimous consent that my remarks be revise and extend -- that i be able to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. ellmers: when i ran for congress, i vowed to end obamacare. and with my first vote in the 112th congress, i will do so. as a nurse for 20 year, co-owner of a wounds care clinic and in practice with my husband in his general surgery practice, we know the problems that exist for americans in health care. instead of being a remedy to these problems, omaw -- obamacare has already done more harm than good to both the quality of health care in our country as well as our economy. as a nurse, i look for pathways

to solutions, this is a problematic pathway, undoubtedly. in the face of rising unemployment, unsustainable federal deficits and overwhelming public opposition, it took more than a year to cobble together an unpopular government takeover of health care. so riddled with provisions that violate right-to-life principles and support government rationing of care that it cannot simply be patched. obamacare is bad for workers, it's bad for employers and bad for america. repealing it allows us to start -- thank you very much. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. graves: i yield the gentlelady 30 more seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. ellmers: thank you. repealing it allows us to start with a clean slate and look at market-based reforms that will actually lower health care costs. it will increase accessibility, let americans keep their plans if they have them and they like

them and it will forestall impending drastic changes that have create uncertainty in the lives of so many americans. to this congress, i will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to repeal and replace the job-killing regulations and state bankrupting mandates. the bill to repeal the so-call aid fordable health plan -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mrs. ellmers: thank you so much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york. ms. velazquez: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: i recognize the gentlelady from new york. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. >> i rise in strong support of this bill to repeal the affordable care act.

i can tell you that athe affordable care act will take care away from patients. it transfers power from consumers to the government. ms. hayworth: to make crucial decisions that belong in the hands of patients and their doctors. it neglects to deal effectively with reforms and medical liability that are desperately needed to reduce the unconscionable cost of medicine. our vote to repeal is not merely symbolic, it represents the true will of the american public and will pave the way to reform our health care in a way that will allow our citizens to have the good, cost-effective health care and affordable, portable health insurance they need while maintaining the quality, choice, and innovation that represents the best of american medicine. thank you, madam speaker and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york.

ms. velazquez: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: thank you, madam speaker. at this time, i yield one minute to the gentleman from arizona, mr. bossier. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized for one minute. mr. gosar: the health care law passed last year did not fix any problems, it only made things worse. small businesses can barely make ends meet. now the federal government is imposing more mandates, more taxes and more red tape. enough is enough. as a health care provider, small business owner and father, i know that the way to provide more health care to individuals and create more jobs is not through government bureaucracies, deficit spending and higher taxes. rather we need to empower businesses, big and small, to band together to purchase health insurance. we need to implement real health care reform that will lower the cost of care and open up access.

tort reform, red tape reform, pre-existing conditions reform. these are reforms that will work. reform the current law failed to adequately address or ignored altogether. if we are serious about putting our nation back to work, we can start by repealing this onerous health care law and work hand in hand with the american people to implement true health care reform. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velazquez: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: thank you, madam speaker. at this time i yield one minute to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fitzpatrick. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. fitzpatrick: i rise in support of the repeal of the so-call aid fordable care act because the affordable care act is unaffordable for small businesses and individuals. since the passage of the act, my constituents have seen double digit premium increases. the act is unaffordable for

states already billions in the red and unable to shoulder billions more in medicaid costs. it is unaffordable for seniors who will see reductions in medicare spending. and it's unaffordable for the american tabblings payer who will see a $700 billion increase in the deficit. we must enact real health care reform, tort reform for doctors, permitting individuals real competition to purchase across state lines and enacting and enhancing health savings accounts. these are the cornerstones of real health care reform and affordability to make health care affordable and accessible for seniors, states and generations of taxpayers to come. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velazquez: how much time does each side have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady has six minutes remain, the gentleman from missouri has six and a half

minutes remaining. ms. velazquez: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. richardson: i urge my colleagues to keep true to the -- to the call for civility. this isn't obamacare, it's called the affordable care act. at a time when americans have a chance to see a regular doctor, to prevent sitting in hospital rooms in emergency waiting for desperate care, we have a chance. what does this mean to small businesses in california and my own home taun, 15,100 small businesses have seen a 50% tax credit to provide health care for the first time for their employees. over 16,000 additional small businesses will now be eligible for health care exchanges that will make insurance affordable. now are talking about

considering something that would prevent medicare for 63,000 beneficiaries, extending coverage to 88,000 residents in my district. that's what we're talking about and when you are talking about guaranteeing 17,000 residents who had pre-existing conditions. i will vote no on h.r. 2 and i urge my colleagues to consider not reversing, it's not time to go back, it's time to step forward. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: i yield one minute to the the gentleman from ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. stivers: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding time. i rise in support because doing otherwise would be supporting the job-killing status quo and that is unacceptable.

whether we start over or work to fix the current law, we must act. i'm committed to work in a bipartisan to support reforms that we agree on, such as helping people with pre-existing conditions get access and allowing young adults to stay on their parents' plan but i want to eliminate the mandates and 1099 requirement in the legislation. small business owner from my district called the other day and wanted to talk to me about the burdens of the 1099 provision and called it a nightmare and will increase her burden by 12 times. we need to lower health care costs for families and allow a more patient-centered approach and not placing burdens on the backs of small business owners. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: i yield one minute to the the gentleman from arkansas, mr. womack.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. womack: thank you for the time. throughout this debate, there has been talk about jobs and there should be. there is little doubt that this law impacts american workers. take for example, an electric company in my district. it has 6,000 employees across america and the impact is $2.9 million. how does a company like valdor absorb that cost by automating its processes and through attrition, allowing 50 jobs to disappear. eliminating 50 jobs in the first year of this law for a company like valdor not to mention thousands of companies across america similarly situated is not my idea of restoring economic prosperity for america. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 2 and begin the process of crafting a meaningful, affordable and workable solution. that's the way forward. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velazquez: i yield 1 1/2 minutes to the the gentleman from new york, mr. wiener. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. weiner: any of the members who have spoken about the impact on small business, are any of them in favor of the tax incentive that is provided on small businesses to provide health care? of course they are. now, they might not know it's in the bill because to listen to the rhetoric, they just came off the campaign trail, they said government takeover, job killing, but i would urge you to read the bill. small businesses get 30% to 50% tax incentive to provide health care. and you know what requirements they have to go along with that? none. no gaudy regulation, no government takeover and just a word, i know you are caught up in the rhetoric of the campaign, this is tax breaks that are going to go to citizens to buy

private insurance policies. where is the government takeover in that? some of us believe that medicare which you referred to as a government takeover in health care, which i'm sure you are opposed, some of us believe that the insurance companies aren't providing value added here, but they are the beneficiaries. small businesses today, if the republicans are successful, will lose that tax incentive. you think that will create a lot of jobs, guys? and you think small businesses benefit when they don't provide health insurance? who do you think pays that bill, the bill fairy? your taxpayers. what's your solution? they don't have a solution. we know what they are against and against tort reform and don't know what they are for. welcome to the republican majority. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to address their comments to the chair. the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: madam speaker, i

would yield two minutes to the the gentleman from new york, mr. gibson. mr. gibson: permission to revise and extend my remarks. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i express the sentiments of my district. with health care costs continuing to rise several times the rate of inflation year after year, clearly we need reform. health care costs were 4.7% in 1960, they are over 17% today. the bill passed last year is not the answer. we will end up with higher costs, higher premiums, higher taxes and burdensome regulation and more big government at a time we should be consolidating. we need to start over again and i believe we can find solutions that drive down costs and expands access without hurting small businesses and stepping on our freedoms.

this bill passed last year expands the government's expansion in health care, which is significantly increasing in my district. at a time when both sides of the aisle believe we should be focusing on job creation, this is not the way forward. the new taxes and regulations will hurt our small businesses, including the medical device industry where our region leads the nation. the new law, if not repealed, will hurt families across my district and across america. the changes to the medicaid program will put burdens on states already facing difficult challenges. i plan to vote for repeal. and later this week, i plan to vote for house resolution 9 to instruct committees to report a replacement bill for wider options and choices and medical liability reform. we should engage in a civil, bipartisan discussion with our colleagues across the aisle. our replacement bill should

include coverage for pre-existing conditions and ensure that coverage can't be dropped when you are sick. the fate of this repeal effort will hinge on the kept and quality of the replacement bill. if we bring forward in this house a new plan that drives down costs and increases access and protecting choices, i believe the people evaluating the two plans will pressure the senate and president to repeal and replace because we need reform but the bill is not the answer. we need to start over. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velazquez: i would like to inquire as to how much time is remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the the gentlewoman from new york has three minutes remaining. the gentleman from missouri has 2 1/2 minutes remaining. ms. velazquez: i would like to inquire through the chair how many speakers the gentleman has remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: i don't have any more speakers and i'm prepared

to close. ms. velazquez: i yield two minutes to the the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi. the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. garamendi: madam speaker, this is the most remarkable of all chambers where discussions take place because if you say something that is not true, somebody will believe that it's actually true. what i have heard today on the floor, i'm going, well, that's a marvelous thing, when, in fact, our colleagues on the republican side want to enact reforms that are already in place. already in place is the patients' bill of rights. no recisions. no pre-existing conditions. children being able to stay or young adults being able to stay on their parents' policies until the age of 26. they say they want it, it's the law of america. would you. what are we going to repeal? you going to repeal that?

you small businesses to be taken care of? so do we. if you employ less than 50 people as a small business, you don't have any requirements at all. if you want to provide health insurance to your employees, wow, the government is going to give you a subsidy, 35% now and building to 50% in the years ahead. what's wrong with that? where's the harm to small business? what in the world are you guys talking about here? i don't get it. it's in the law already. everything i have heard in the last half hour is the law of america. so, why are you repealing it, so the insurance companies can get another shot at taking over the care of patients, which is exactly what they do and exactly what i know, because i was the insurance commissioner eight years in california and i know what the insurance companies do. they are the ones that make the

decisions. we don't want that to happen. that's why the patients' bill of rights is the law in america today. the patients' bill of rights would be repealed by h.r. 2. not good for americans. not good. some 30 million people would lose their opportunity for insurance. i yield back my time, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york. ms. velazquez: madam speaker, will will small businesses lose if health care reform is repealed? the small business tax credits of up to 50% will be lost. insurers will be able to continue price gouging. insurers will be able to deny small business coverage without any justification. new health insurance upshoots for small businesses will be eliminated. small businesses will be unable to pool resources to purchase

coverage. insurers will be able to delay small businesses access to health insurance. new health options for the self-employed will be abottle issued. i urge a no vote and i hope that we stand the remainder of this congress measures that truly get small businesses hiring and creating jobs. what we need is to get this economy back on track. by repealing health care reform, we will not achieve that. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from missouri. mr. graves: some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to argue or continue to claim that the health care law is going to benefit small businesses despite the mount of facts that are out there, specifically what was argued earlier is the health care tax credit is going to make it easier for employers to offset the costs to provide

health insurance. unfortunately, this is far from the truth, any potential assistance from this tax credit is outweighed by the paperwork burdens that this law is going to pile on small businesses. madam sperger, the american -- speaker, the american people spoke loudly and move away that imposes burdens on entrepreneurs. madam speaker, i urge my colleagues to vote for h.r. 2 and let's get back on track. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. pursuant to clause 1-c of rule 19, further consideration of this bill is postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately

what it is like every day with the knowledge that your breast cancer could come back and to couple that fear with reality and fear is devastating. after three years without coverage, my family and i moved from california to virginia, we wanted to start over and look for new opportunities near where my husband and i both grew up and had family support. calvin and i were then able to find work and health coverage through his employer but for three years, i never knew if there would be a recurrence and i would not be able to afford

the care i needed. i lived in fear that if cancer returned, i would not have insurance to help pay for the treatment to enable me to beat the disease again and continue living as the healthy breast cancer survivor i'd been for the last 15 years. for year, i'd been a field coordinator, team leader, advocate for the national breast cancer coalition. i fought for health care reform last year and proudly celebrated the passage of the patient protection and affordable care act. for me, this law represents protection from the uncertainty and fear that came with being denied health insurance coverage because of my past disease. it represents freedom for my husband and me to make important choices about our lives and careers without the specter of pre-existing condition hanging over our heads. it never-before-seens that -- it means that no other breast

cancer survivor will be forced to walk in hi views -- to walk in my shoes. removing these protections would mean a halt to progress and mean a huge step back for all of us. >> thank you very much. thank you for taking the time to share your story with us this morning. i'd like to welcome lori, welcome to the committee and thank you for your time and your willingness to share your history with us. i want to thank chairman miller, chairwoman pelosi and democratic leaders for this opportunity to testify. my name is lori bressnan and i'm here from st. louis, missouri my 22-year-old son is a full-time college student, works part time and is also a seal yak patient with extensive

food allergies that often come with with celiac disease. he is vulnerable to complications and prior to consumer protections, he could not have stayed on my family's insurance past this coming june when he turns 23. we were concerned about the options we had at that time, which were for him to go uninsured, hoping for the best, or pay huge premiums if we were able to find coverage for him at all. we now have the right to keep him on our insurance until age 26, giving him too time to finish college and get a full-time job. this law also assures when he -- when that time comes, he'll have insurance options available to him even with a pre-existing condition. repealing these rights means not only that my son won't be allowed to stay on our insurance policy until age 26,

but he won't see the day when pre-existing conditions don't control your access to health insurance. well-educated youth often have not completed their education by age 23. this legislation is very helpful to support building our country's intellectual capital necessary to move us forward in the global economy. allowing us to keep him on our insurance until age 26 came at the perfect time. by 26, we hope he will have graduated and that he has a job. we are thrilled we have the option to keep him on our insurance in the interim when families so often struggle to keep their kids covered or are left worrying about the health of an uninsured child. thank you. >> thank you. i'd like now to recognize ed burke, thank you for joining us.

>> they're not spicking -- picking up your sound. bring it closer to you. >> how's that? >> thank you. >> i want to thank chairman miller, chairwoman pelosi and my fellow floridian ms. wasserman schultz as well as the hemophiliac organization. i'm a 52-year-old hemonil yak. it can be inherited or can come about spontaneously. i oppose the health care

repeal. i will lose the freedom to keep my job if efforts to repeal my protections are successful. i grew up in the suburbs of philadelphia, pennsylvania, with an older sister and brother and younger brother and all three of us boys had hemophilia. in the 18960's, only -- the only treatment for an internal bleeding disorder was a transfusion -- an infusion accompanied by a few nights in the hospital. when the medical bills arrived, the folks at blue cross-blue shield, they would inform my parents that my brothers and i had pre-existing conditions and they would not cover them. even as my parents paid

premiums for a family of six, the insurance company kept their money without helping them. to me and millions of americans with chronic disease, this was blatant discrimination. our new protection ended this practice, protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions and providing families with the security they deserve. millions of americans have disabilities and these account for three quarters of the nation's health spending, nearly all of medicare and 80% of medicaid spending is attributable to chronic disease. i bring those statistics to your attention for the following reasons. in the mid 1970's a medical

breakthrough in hemophilia was discovered. hemophiliacs like myself could receive an infusion of the protein our bodies did not make and we could control the bleeding episodes. unfortunately, this new medicine was and still is very expensive. for me, at 6'4", 250 pounds, 252. >> looking good. >> i infuse 3,000 units, approximately three times a week at $1 a unit. that's $18,000 a week. so just the factor i need costs me $1 million annually. this has been highly problematic due to the health insurance industry's creation of lifetime caps. on average, most americans through their employer have a $2 million cap on insurance claims and a healthy american with no chronic disease would have been able to get by for a long time without reaching this cap.

but for someone like me, this can be devastating. did i say something wrong? once you have reached your lifetime cap, you would be forced to pay the rest of your health care out of pocket or to change jobs and sometimes even careers in order to have health benefits and a new cap. in the end, lifetime caps forced you to make tough, life-altering decisions for you and your family. often, forcing the individual like myself onto a federal or state insurance program that other taxpayers like yourselves will pick up the bill for. however, our new patients' rights prohibit insurance companies from having such caps. even removed annual limits so that in insured american can receive all the care they need without fear. leaving them to focus instead on living as healthy a full

life as possible. when elected officials are voting to repeal patients' rights legislation, they are in reality forcing americans like myself a working, tax-paying citizen, back to a world where health insurance coverage is constantly an issue and life-saving care is often out of reach. just so the health insurance industry can continue its multimillion dollar for-profit industry. that, my fellow americans is about to occur in the halls of congress. so i stand here today, or sit here today, in front of my representatives and ask them not to play politics with our lives. i recalled last wednesday when president obama, regarding the tucson tragedy, said he was happy to share with us that representative gabby giffords had opened her eyes. i welcome and hope that the rest of congress will do the

same. thank you very much. >> thank you very much, mr. burke. i have one point, i want to ask dr. cohen to speak next, but as you listen to people, the specter of illness, the specter of a pre-existing condition and its return, i'm a cancer survivor, ovarian cancer survivor, my colleague, debbie wasserman schultz, is a breast cancer survivor. there may be others who have had similar illnesses. but the fact of the matter is the specter of those recurring illnesses is always there if you have gone through it and the notion that you can get care and you can't get the care you need and have it paid for is pretty intimidating. dr. cohen, we'd like to hear from you. >> good afternoon. i stated before, my name is odet tembings cohen, owner of sunlight pediatrics, a small practice in new jersey and a

member of the new jersey main street alliance. i thank chairman miller, chairwoman delauro, leader pelosi and members of the committee for inviting me here today to testify. small businesses are the back bone of our economy. in new jersey, we account for 98.5% of the state's employers. and another 590,000 new jersey residents are self-employed. on behalf of the new jersey small businesses, i thank you for the work you've done to enact legislation to make health care work better for us. as a small business owner, i oppose efforts to roll back the protections and benefits of the health care law. both my business and my patients stand to lose important benefits if the law is repealed or if it is watered down. as a small business owner, when i started my medical practice

21 years ago, i was not able to afford medical coverage for my employees. i was therefore not able to compete successfully for the most qualified applicants. i therefore lost many of them to larger companies that were able to offer better benefits. now that i do offer health insurance coverage, i dread my renewal dates every year. in 2009, my premiums went up 33%. last year, my premium went up 50%. 50%. i was forced to change my plan to a less quality plan with higher co-payments. waiting for my renewal quote every year felt like being in a sinking ship. but all of that has changed now because of the new health care law.

it has come in handy as if throwing a lifeline to small businesses like mine by protecting us from unreasonable rate hikes. my business is one of an estimated 144,000 businesses in new jersey that could benefit from the new health care tax credits. the moneys that i will get from these tax debts gives me the option of being able to b absorb the increased rates that my employees would be responsible for or pay benefits for an additional employee. as these credits and other incentives expand over the next four years, i am hoping that i'll be able to hire one more provider and some support staff. repealing these credits would prevent me from expanding my practice and creating jobs in my community. i am also looking forward to 2014. this is when the state insurance exchange is expected

to be up and running. through the exchange, my business will be able to pool together with thousands of other small businesses across the state to be able to access higher quality insurance plans for a lower cost. a vote to scrap these exchanges is a vote endorsing the discrimination and the lack of bargaining power small businesses face today in the insurance markets. as a physician, i am keenly aware that health care consumers aren't getting fair value for their premium dollars. insurance companies use premium money to pay for things that have nothing to do with health care. things like executive bonuses, lobbying activities and expensive political advertising. but now, thanks to the health care law, small businesses and

other consumers can count on having a basic level of value for our premium dollars. if insurance companies don't meet the minimum standard, we'll get rebates starting next year. i say it's about time. small businesses owner and our employees should have the same right of protections as everything else. that's not how things worked before the new law was passed. i know this from personal experience. in 2008, two of my cousins, first cousins were diagnosed with cancer about the same time. my girl cousin, her name is rhonda, was 25 years old. she worked for a large corporation and had health insurance coverage through her job. as soon as she found out something was wrong, she sought help. despite the fact that she was diagnosed with the most

aggressive breast cancer for a young lady, she is well and alive today because she was able to seek care early. this is not so for my other cousin, roger. who was 35 years old. roger worked for a small family business that simply could not afford health insurance. uninsured, he did not seek the care he needed early on. when his pain became unbearable, he went to the emergency room. he had gone a couple of times but this time the pain was quite unbearable. within a couple of days, he was diagnosed with end stage metastatic cancer. roger died a couple of months later. the choice to work for a small business versus a large company should not be a choice between life and death. in this united states. but it was the choice for my

cousin. the new health care law changes that, giving small businesses and our employees the basic security and protections we deserve. these lifelines, tax credits, stronger rate review, new consumer protections and the insurance exchanges, these all help give small businesses a fighting chance to gain access to quality, affordable health care. as a small business owner and a physician, i believe we must continue to advance policies aimed at providing quality care for everyone. we must also advance policies that puts health care decisions back into the hands of patients and physicians. and also, for rewarding quality care. we must not step back into the broken health care system of

the past. i urge you to stand with us, main street small businesses, and opossess -- oppose patients' rights repeal legislation. thank you so much. >> thank you, dr. cohen. thank you for your powerful remarks. we're now going to hear from alexandra latye, our student. >> thank you. chairman miller, chairwoman delauro, leader pelosi, democratic leadership and committee members, thank you for having me here today. my name is alexander lataille. this past may, i graduated from london state college, with two bachelor degrees, one in atmospheric stynes and social science. even before i graduated, i was looking for a job but the economy has made it harder for -- to hire new people. however, by graduation day i

believed i secured a great prospect, working with a private company contracted with the federal aviation administration. due to budget issues, timing and other factors out of my control, the date for employment has been progressively pushed back. though i could find a temporary job, i chose to go back to work with a professor at the university of rhode island i had interned with. he is -- much of his funding has been lost. i'm currently volunteering there as a research assistant working with weather balloons, ozone monitoring, honing skills and gaining experience that will expand my career opportunities as an atmospheric scientist. the research position does not offer health care benefits but under the new law i was able to stay covered by going back on my mother's plan after graduation. in my current situation, if i lost my protections under the law, i would be faced with a

choice. either to pay my student loans or to get health insurance. actually, the truth is far different. i would have little choice in the matter. i need to pay down my college loans first and go uninsured. i know how important having health insurance is, even for a healthy young person like myself. if perhaps i get cancer or get hurt in a car accident, what happens to me? my parents can't afford to bankroll such catastrophic health care costs. i could decide to get a temporary job and use that income to buy private health insurance but to do this, i would have to leave my position at the university where i'm currently gaining a wealth of experience, education, and career mobility. no doubt any future job opportunities will arise because of my experience interning right now. if i were not able to stay on my parents' plan, i would need to make a sacrifice, either sacrificing my future career or my health. that's a choice that no one

should have to make. with this new law, i can stay on my parents' plan up until 26 and feel safe as i navigate may career choices and this new economy. so again, thank you for your time and this opportunity to speak on behalf of young americans. while my political views on different issues fall across a wide range on the political spectrum, this issue isn't partisan to me. i believe that allowing young people to stay on their parents' insurance gives us a new and real freedom to work toward a career goal without going uncovered. i also want to say thank you to young invincibles for giving me this chance to stand up for something i believe in and to make my voice and the voices of other young americans heard on this critical issues. >> thank you, alexander, and thank young invincibles as well it's a very good look at what you face in your future.

claudette theriault? >> thank you, chairman miller, chairwoman delauro, leader pelosi and members for this opportunity to testify. my 2345eu78 is claudette. my husband richard and i are both on medicare. a major new protection for seniors just started this month. medicare pays for preventive services with no out-of-pocket costs to us. last year, we made a decision to put off preventive care, waiting until this year to make appointments for my mammogram and for both our colonoscopies. the last time richard, my husband, had a dones co-by and i had a mammogram, we were left with co-pays we could not afford. i was diagnosed with precancerous cells in my breast a few years back and was told i should have a mammogram every

year. i'm going on two years now. i've also had colon polyps and was told to go every three years and i'm going on five years now. richard takes a number of brand name medications he enrolled in medicare in may of 2010. june 1 of 2010, he reached the doughnut hole. i'm holding here, this is just part of it, this is a novalog pen for insulin. this alone costs $993 for a 25-day supply. he's been a diabetic for 15 years and they've tried different diabetes medication and this is the one that works for him. so after three months of paying 100% of his bills out of pocket, we reached the maximum and started paying 95%. however, we had to spend $4,550

out of pocket. we didn't foresee this and it was devastating. this is four house payments for us. we had to choose between defaulting on our loan or my husband's health. we chose my husband's health. fortunately a local charity loaned us mown and -- money and i'm now volunteering there to pay back this loan. but changes made are starting to end the doughnut hole so families like ours aren't forced to choose between staying healthy and paying their mortgage. this year, seniors can get a 50% reduction on the cost of name-brand drugs in the doughnut hole. this assistance could have saved us thousands last year. in the past weeks, i've spoken with a few members of our community and i wanted to hear their stories. there's dawn, who just retired last year and hit the doughnut hole in september.

he had no idea this was coming. he's no longer retired, he's working two jobs to pay for his medication. then i ran into larry and rita, larry has rheumatoid arthritis, she has cancer and they wanted to retire at the end of this year. .

struggling to continue tore support her child and pay for doughnut hole expenses and looking forward to seeing a doctor for her physical this year and getting preventive care. these are the stories from my community and stories of couventless who will need to -- countless others who will need to choose between health care or keeping a roof over their heads. thank you. >> thank you, very much. and now stacey ritter.

let us hear from you and your two beautiful daughters. >> am i on? >> i would like to thank chairman miller, leader pelosi and the rest of the democrats -- democratic leadership the opportunity to testify here on how important it is that this bill not only stays in place, but progresses and moves forward. our twin daughters whom i brought with me are childhood cancer disorders and diagnosed with leukemia and had stem cell transplants at the children's hospital in philadelphia. they are 12 now. and very shy. stem cell transplants, cancer

treatment in germ is very, very expensive. we were fortunate at the time, my husband had full coverage through his employer. but because we had a younger son at home and because i was presenting thant and we needed to take turns back and forth to the hospital, my husband took family medical leave. we then paid cobra to maintain our insurance for us and also -- excuse me the cobra payments and our mortgage and your usual bills that you have, electricity, food, all of that combined when you are lacking income can run pretty high. we paid just as much for our cobra a month than we did for our mortgage on our townhouse.

so, in the end, we ended up bankrupt, even with full insurance coverage. so for the people who think that i have full coverage, i'm good, don't count on it, because you never know. my twin daughters are here with us today, thank god. but, unfortunately, the treatment for childhood cancer is old and not a lot of money that's invested in it, least funded of all cancers. they endured keemo, total body radiation and has left them with a few medical issues that will have for the rest of their lives, so growth hormone. the treatment for that are shots on growth hormones.

they are very expensive. they were covered by our first insurance company, but my husband's company was up to renew like every company and didn't want to give that same great plan again, because we had cost them so much money the year before, so they switched to another insurer and that insurer decided they knew more than my doctor who was a world renowned pediatric doctor at the children's hospital in philadelphia. he prescribed the growth hormone for them. first aetna covered and significance in a said not necessary, it's experimental. we aren't going to cover it. we don't care what the previous insurer did, we don't feel it's necessary. so i had to continue to fight with cigna and appeals process

and all the things that were there for me to do and denied, denied and denied again. my doctors had conferences with them, they approved it, and when their office would follow through to have it filled, they said, no, they shouldn't have approved that when they spoke with you. so, denied. so through shame and speaking out in public constantly about this evil practice that the insurance industry seems to have, i shamed them into covering it. but fortunately in that time in the year and-a-half i was fighting with cigna, eli lilly has a bridge program set up. the insurance industry doesn't want to cover these expensive

drugs. necessary or not, what do they do? they have things in place. we are subsidizing the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industries are also. granted they aren't free of guilt, but at the same time, i'm very grateful for eli lilly helping me with that process. lack of a better way to put that. i'm sorry, i tend to go off track. >> you're in good company. [laughter] >> in the fall of 2008, i read part of then senator barack obama's health care proposal to my then 10-year-old daughters especially about cancer research and my daughter began to cry.

she said, mom, barack obama really understands. he is really going to help us. her eyes lit up. here is a 10-year-old girl who knew that that was the right thing to do for people. she knew. so i knew health care rights really address what people like us need. our lives would have been easier when my kids were going through this had this been in place at the time. and for the 12,500 children-plus diagnosed every year for cancer, this is what it means to them. the health reforms included in the landmark health care act advanced critical protections for individuals fighting cancer. provisions in the law prohibit denying individuals participating in clinical trials

and as many know, clinical research is key, is key to finding better treatment. and clinical research is never really covered by insurance. so a lot of great research goes by the wayside because it's underfunded. the cornerstone of cancer research is what these clinical trials are and they deserve to be covered. after recovering from cancer, children can no longer be denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions. that's one of our biggest fears. if my husband were to lose his job, no one is going to take us. and in the future, what are they going to do? do they deserve to worry if they worry whether they are going to be insured or not. not in my country. no. it's not acceptable. and also requires new plans to provide preventive services without increasing regular

checkups that can detect childhood cancers because earliest detection is key to survival. we pay right now over zhrrs 500 in just co-pays because we see a series of specialists and to a family of six, $500 in one co-pay is rather expensive. the affordable care eliminates lifetime caps on coverage. that helps eliminate one road to bankruptcy for many people. cancer is very expensive and oftentimes hit their caps. they hit their caps before they even leave the hospital. it would prohibits companies from dropping people when they get sick and give people the peace of mind that insurance

will cover procedures that doctors recommend because just because you have insurance and just because insurance says it covers something, doesn't mean they can't deny it. in my plan, they cover the growth hormone, but they can refuse to pay for it. and any other aspect. wouldn't that be a breach of contract if you are paying for a service and the company you are paying for that service says no, i don't think so. they can do that. we let them do that. not under this law. we finally are protecting ourselves from that, vital. i'm almost done. i remain convinced that if americans could hear my story and understand why these rights and protections are important to our citizens, they would oppose

the repeal legislation. my children now have protections from insurance discrimination based on their pre-existing conditions and won't have to fear the recision of their insurance policies if they get sick and look forward to lower costs in preventive care. no one who understands how important these and other provisions are to so many of us could endure legislation that repeals these important patients' rights. i am so proud to be here once again to tell our story and the story of hundreds of thousands of other americans to have stories much, much worse than this. and i would like to thank all of you who had the courage to stand up and do the right thing and vote for this bill initially. thank you so much. you have no idea how much it meant to a lot of people.

i know you only got to hear the bad because that's all the news wants to play, but believe me, it was greatly, greatly appreciated. thank you. >> thank you so much for your testimony and thank you to madeline and anna and giving your mom support in that testimony. we are delighted that you joined our hearing. it is your right, your stories, the members sitting here today, we encounter in our district all the time and that's why we are so passionate about making sure that you are protected now for the first time, as are your daughters. thank you so much for your testimony. dr. cohen, apparently you are not alone. i notice in a recent story in the "l.a. times"," united health group advocates they added 75,000 new customers who are employees of businesses that employ 50 people are less and

also could have ven try health care out of maryland reports 15,000 workers have been extended and blue cross/blue shield, the largest insurer in kansas city has a 58% in the number of businesses buying insurance since the time the health insurance was signed into law. so this is a real opportunity for those employees who are working every day, but didn't have the opportunity for coverage. so you are leading the way there. i would like to recognize mr. andrews, a member of the education and labor committee. >> i would like to thank our leadership for this opportunity and really thank the ladies and gentlemen and young ladies who came here today to speak. it takes a lot of character and

integrity to come to a public forum and tell your story and buyer your soul in a compelling way. we thank each of you. you said you are all set to step into a job that deals with research and development on aviation issues. if we had a choice tomorrow before voting on repeal of the health care bill or voting on a bill that would help small businesses and other employers create jobs throughout the country, which of those bills do you think we should be taking up on the floor? >> i'm poised to get that job and i need that health insurance right now. if i get that taken away from me and i get into a car accident, i'm not going to be looking for a job but looking for the health insurance. the health insurance is more important to me than my job, as important as a job really is to me, i need to know that i'm not

going to die. that takes press dens to me. >> do you think we should repeal the bill or we should be pursuing helping employers create jobs across this country, which is the better use of our time? >> should be helping employers find more jobs. >> would like to give you a voting job tomorrow. i would like to ask ms. branch, thank you for your testimony. you told us a really powerful story about being three years without health insurance as a breast cancer survivor and worrying about that mass you had on the test and thank god it was benign and not a problem. if you had a chance you would like to tell your congressman, what would you tell them? >> i would tell them to do the right thing.

he voted for the health care reform. and i know he's going to do the right thing and not going to repeal this law and i expect him to listen to all of the constituents in our district and to make sure that we're all covered and that we are not discriminated against, because we had breast cancer in the past. >> finally, ms. righter and your young -- ritter, what would you say if your congressman said we have to repeal obamacare, it's going to be a job-killing bill. what would you say to him or her to do on that bill? >> my representative is congressman congressman joe pitts. >> very glad i asked you that. >> what would you like to say to him? >> well, i would like to say as

passionate he is about abortion, i wish he would be as passionate about my children who are already here and deserve the need -- the same kind of care, love and support that he is seeming to halt everything for for someone else who doesn't even exist. i sound crast, but they are here, they need us. i implore him to stop the games and start representing everyone in the district. when i wanted help, i went over to congressman sestak's district to ask for help because congressman pitts was not willing. >> we thank you for this opportunity. >> the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. >> thank you for being here and sharing compelling stories and i

have a question for you, sounds like what you were describing in terms of your work experience would enhance your ability to become a meteorologist and get a good paying job and do other young people face the same choices you have faced if this act were repealed and you would nong no longer be able to be on your parents' insurance plan or quit what is a solid career path. >> that's the way the job market is right now. there are a lot of people i gauted with who are working internships because that's the way they can get because you need to put yourself above everyone else. they aren't getting much and repealing it, they have to choose to continue that ladder

to a future job or just sit around and make sure their health is ok. >> and if i could ask you, you describe this anxiety of worrying about reaching a cap for your coverage which this coverage eliminates so you don't have to worry about that. this is a practical, following that sequence, what would happen to you if this were repealed and that cap were reached? as a practical matter, how would you access what you would need and the cost that's attached to it and what would be the consequences if you couldn't access that care? >> consequences have occurred before. like i said earlier, it's almost a crime to have a disease in this country so you can get health care to take care of it and benefits to take care of it,

instead of helping a working, taxpaying citizen, they want you to become a ward of the state and then and only then will we give you benefits for health care. now that i'm a parent and i have a 10-year-old, when i was single, i said ok, we'll deal with this, figure it out. my parents, all through my entire life, the health insurance industry says we really need you to go away, regardless, i want to work. i want to own a home. i want to be successful. and the thing holding me back, a disease you are born with and to call it pre-existing condition sets you back once and then coming up with lifetime caps at $1 million a year, i was capping out every two years. and fortunately or unfortunately because of the health care

industry i'm in, the acquisition and mergers of the companies every two years, i had somebody else i was working for doing the same work. that's the only reason i wasn't forced to go on medicare and medicaid. that's what i tried to present here, to stop forcing people who want to work for a living. i don't want everybody else to pay your taxes for my health care. i want the insurance industry to insure us. >> the gentleman from california, mr. waxman. wax >> i thank each of you for your presentation today because you put a human face that the congress was dealing to solve. these are problems that didn't just start now. these are problems that are real and faced by millions of people, to be denied care by insurance companies because you have a lifetime cap, to be denied

insurance coverage because you have a pre-existing condition or you are threatend to cost the insurance companies more money, to be denied insurance because you don't have a job, to be denied insurance because some insurance companies decide your gender as a woman might be considered a pre-existing condition. these are the kinds of things insurance companies have been doing. and it shocks me when i hear those who want to repeal this bill talk about how they want to give people more freedom. how can you consider yourself free if you have the nightmare of not having health insurance available to you? some people say government's too big, well government shouldn't be involved in this if the insurance companies were spreading the risk. didn't need government to do this, except to protect the

american people from the insurance companies. and people who want to repeal the bill, the ones they want to make free are the insurance companies who carry on these kinds of practices. i want to ask the question -- you're on medicare. >> yes, i am. >> just being on medicare doesn't make you feel that you are doing anything wrong because the u.s. government established the medicare program and it's a government insurance program where you can go to the private doctors and hospitals. you think government shouldn't be involved in that area of providing medical care for seniors? >> i don't have a problem with that. >> i don't think most americans have a problem. those on medicare tell me they love it. in fact, they would be lost without it. and those who aren't on medicare

are paying into the system so when they are eligible, they will have access to that as well. but medicare means you have insurance. but even with that insurance, the cost of drugs, tell me what the cost of drugs again, you said in your testimony. tell us about the cost of drugs. >> >> $4,450. it would be $9,100 out of pocket. because of my husband's insulin, he combets within the doughnut hole for a month. >> the doughnut hole was created when the republicans created this medicare part d plan, they should have made it a regular benefit but wanted insurance companies to run the pharmaceutical plan and wanted to be sure that the pharmaceutical companies came out ok.

so when they created it, you have to go buy an insurance policy and after you pay a certain amount of money, the insurance companies make you pay for the rest of it, the doughnut hole. >> absolutely. >> that makes no sense to me. can you see any ration nationale for -- rationale for such a thing? >> no. some people are surprised and devastated by this. >> well, we have to preserve medicare, because after this bill, god forbid if this is repealed, they want -- might want to repeal medicare next. and when medicare is available to them and eligible for it, they'll have help with preventive services and pharmaceutical drugs. that's what the republicans want

to repeal and that's why we have to fight this effort. >> the gentlewoman from california, ms. bass, questions. >> first of all, i wanted to join with our guests who spoke and thank you, leadership, for having this hearing and thank you for giving your presentations. i listened to your stories and so many of us in this room have personal stories about how we have been impacted by the health care system. and you were probably as surprised as i was when i got that letter when my daughter turned 22, i didn't know that once you hit 23, you were removed from insurance. i think that's something that wasn't even publicly known until you get that letter and then you go into the panic. mr. burke, wonderful to see you here today, well and healthy.

i remember in the early days when folks with your disease didn't survive and it was because of medical research really that you are here today. i look at your tw two daughters and i shared with you, i have a 19-year-old stepdaughter who was diagnosed with leukemia when she was six years old and lost health insurance last year. i can cover her this year, february 1, because of health care reform. i listend to you, you mentioned the preventive tests that you bypassed. you said you are due for your mammogram and colon os copyy. since health care reform has been passed, are you able now to get those tests? are they accessible, are they affordable? >> yes, they are and no co-pay

with the preventive medicine now. >> it's a new congress and a new way to view c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> research members, rue session timelines and find video and text of all floor and appearances, congressional chronicle at c-span.org. >> every yeeked, experience american history tv, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. hear historic speachts by national leaders and eye-witness accounts of events that shaped our nation. visit museums, historical sites and college campuses as top history professors and historians delve into america ca can's past. every weekend on c-span 3.

>> you are watching c-span, bringing you politics and public affairs, every morning at "washington journal" connecting you with elected officials, policy makers and journalists. watch live coverage of the u.s. house and week nights, congressional hearings and supreme court oral arguments. on the weekend, you can see our interview programs. on saturdays "the communicators and on sundays, "newsmakers." you can watch our programming at c-span.org. and it's all searchable in our video library. c-span, washington, your way, a public service created by america's cable companies. >> live now to the house for one vote on a measure debated earlier today dealing with printing bills and resolutions.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the house will be in order. would all members please remove their conversations from the floor? the house will be in order.

the house will be in order. will all members please remove their conversations from the floor? the chair is prepared to entertain one-minute requests. will the house be in order?

for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york rise? the house will be in order. the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. will members please take their conversations from the floor? the house is not in order. will members please take their conversations from the floor?

for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york rise? >> i have a one-minute speech, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i wish to inform this house of representatives that on january 8, 2011, central new york lost a great friend in this agust body lost a former member, william francis welch. the speaker pro tempore: will the gentlewoman suspend. the house is not in order. the gentlewoman deserves to be heard. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. >> i wish to inform the house of representatives on january 8, 2011, central new york lost a great friend and this agust body lost a former member, william francis walsh. william walsh, world war ii

veteran, former mayor of syracuse and member of this house of representatives from 1973 to 1979 passed away at his home in marcellus, new york, at the age of 98. mr. walsh played a significant role in the shaping of the political landscape of central new york for more than 30 years. he returned home from world war ii -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady will suspend. the house is not in order. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. ms. buerkle: thank you, madam speaker. mr. walsh played a significant role in the shaping of the political landscape in central new york for more than 30 years. he returned home from world war ii during which he served as an army captain and completed graduate studies at the university of buffalo in social work. his training and experience as a social worker would provide

him with values, reference points for his future political career. in 1959, voters elected him to the post of the county welfare commissioner. over the course of his political career, he consistently demonstrated his compassion for the less fortunate and he was instrumental in developing welfare-to-work programs. william walsh was elected mayor of the city of syracuse in 1961. during his tenure, widespread major changes to the downtown syracuse occurred. syracuseians remember bill walsh for his approachability and his emphasis on constituent service. that attention to the needs of the constituents served the district well when mr. walsh became a member of congress in 1973. bill walsh loved syracuse. the child of irish immigrants michael and mary ellis walsh, bill walsh always remained connected to the community he grew up in.

his strong sense of community colored his commitment to public service and he passed that commitment on to his children. he and his wife, the late mary dorsey, raised seven children. their son, jim walsh, served in congress from 1989-2009. and two of his other children, bill walsh and martha walsh currently serve as county judges. mr. walsh enjoyed hunting, golf and outdoors. most importantly, though, he was a devoted father who spent time with his children, teaching them about life, people and public service. he will be greatly missed by his family, friends, and the syracuse community. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: are there further requests for one minutes? the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. >> madam speaker, i request

unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> like the house built upon a rock, america was created upon the solid foundation of the constitution, with the passage of obamacare, liberals have drilled holes in the rock and foundation of our nation. madam speaker, i rise today to introduce a bill, h.r. 2 9 that restored our economic freedom, it repeals the bureaucratic boondoggle of obamacare and replaces it with common sense solutions, while allowing individuals to shop health care across state lines, the cost of health care is reduced through basic free market solutions. . mr. broun: my plan allows people to deduct 100% of their health care expenses. my bill also creates high-risk

pools and allows health care associations to form, empowering america to get coverage that they need at a much lower cost. madam speaker, residents of the 10th district of georgia overwhelmingly oppose obamacare. i'm proud to fulfill my commitment to repeal it and replace it with some commonsense solutions. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from -- for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas rise? without objection. ms. jackson lee: madam speaker, i've listened for a couple of hours to the debate on health care and we'll have additional hours going forward today. tomorrow. i think it is important that each member look carefully at their own congressional area. and as well their own state. i hope maybe i'll be able to convince a few members of the

reality of the state of texas and by the way, i don't know how far this legislation will go, we expect a victory on the repeal tomorrow, i don't want americans to be frightened who need this bill. mr. president, be prepared to use your veto pen. but texas is the number-one state with uninsured. it has grown over five times -- our health care premiums have grown five times faster than income and 500,000 middle class workers lost their private insurance. in harris county where many of us live, more than 800,000 will be put on the health care rolls if this bill continues to go forward, meaning the patient protection bill. but if the repeal goes, we'll throw 800,000 people to the wolves. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: there is a reason to support this bill, particularly in texas, that has an enormous number of uninsured. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from indiana rise? mr. akin: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. akin: madam speaker, an extraordinary event happened in my district. a high school, after being in existence for only five years, won the state 5-a high school football championship and i just wanted to congratulate coach rick wimmer and his tigers for doing such an outstanding job. you know, many schools that have been in existence for a long time do great things. but to do it in only five years is really extraordinary. so congratulations to this great school. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. tong tong thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in -- mr. tonko: thank you, madam speaker. i am committed to working with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to create jobs and improve our nation's economy.

we need to focus on jobs right now, not repealing health care reform. in fact, last year the private sector created some 1.1 million jobs. that is more private sector j -- job growth created in 2010 alone than during all of the bush administration. fully 200,000 of those jobs, one out of every five, were in the health care industry. in the capitol region alone, repeal would strip benefits from some 439,000 individuals, with health insurance and 113,000 seniors on medicare. my constituents would lose guaranteed coverage for their pre-existing condition, coverage for young adults, lower drug prices for seniors and free preventative care. madam speaker, repealing health care reform to return to the old status quo where insurance companies run amok and put profits over people is irresponsible and reckless for our nation and our economy and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from indiana rise? >> address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. on december 21, 2010, lance corporal william harry crouse died of wounds sustained in the helmand province in afghanistan. as a field artillery assigned to the first battalion, 10th marine regiment, second marine division, second marine force, lance corporal crouse was serving his first deployment to afghanistan in support of operation enduring freedom where he had been for six weeks. born june 13, 1988, in angola, indiana, he joined the marine corps in november, 2007, and was promoted to lance corporal august 1, 2008. lance corporal crouse's awards and decorations include the marine corps good conduct medal, national defense service medal,

afghanistan campaign medal and the global war on terrorism service medal. mr. stutzman: lance corporal crouse is survived by his mother and step-father of fort wayne. his brothers, nathan and ryan, and his sisters. after quickly being promoted to lance corporal, lance corporal crouse selflessly gave his life in the service to defend our country's freedom in support of operation enduring freedom. my heart goes out to his family and i want to express my deepest gratitude to both of them, to them both for the sacrifice they have made for our nation. and i yield back my type. -- time. the speaker pro tempore: are there further one-minute requests? the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. hunter of california for today, mr. austria of ohio for friday, january 7, and ms. mccollum of minnesota for today.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the requests are granted. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? ms. woolsey: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, to revise and extend their remarks, and include therein extraneous material. mr. mcdermott, washington, ms. woolsey, california, ms. kaptur, ohio, mr. blumenauer, oregon, mr. keating, maine, mrs. lowy, new york. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address this house, revise and extend their remarks, and include therein extraneous material. myself, mr. poe, for today, january 19, 20, and 24.

mr. jones for today, january 19, 20 and 24. mr. dole for today, dr. paul for january 19 and 20. mr. burton for today, january 19 and 20. ms. buerkle for today, mr. frelinghuysen for today. mr. paulson for today, ms. ros-lehtinen for today and january 19, dr. fleming for today mr. dreier for january 19 and 20, and ms. foxx for january the 19 and for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized for five minutes each. poe of texas, mcdermott, washington. poe of texas is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, madam speaker. i want to tell you about a good work that's going on in houston, texas. it's a government -- or it's a program that's not sponsored by the government. in fact the government is not involved in this project at all.

it all started 15 months ago when amanda gale and her mother linda gale lee decided they would start going from humble, texas, my hometown, to downtown houston, about 30 miles away, and start feeding the homeless. and so they fixed hot meals for the homeless and they go out to downtown houston in a remote area that have city and they feed those people every night a hot meal. and they've done it for 15 months. i call this amanda gale's kitchen. and they're feeting the homeless, not just the homes, but i believe these are the rejected homeless. these are the home thals can't get into shelters, they don't live in shelters, they have all kinds of physical, emotional and mental issues and they live on the streets of houston, texas. and every night for 15 months they've fed about 100 of these homeless individuals with a hot meal.

a couple of months ago the houston police department came to where they were feeding and told them they needed to move to another location. the police department suggested the location and they moved down the street and every night they feed the homeless. in fact now they bring them blankets and sleeping bags because of the winter. amanda gale is now married to a preacher, tray hairing, and he has continued this network of feeding the homeless and clothing them every night. they have networks all over the houston area, some in a different county, where this hot food is brought in, cooked in kitchens and they feed the inner city. it's an organized effort and they enjoy doing it and it's something that's important. but on december 30, even winter for houston, the health department came in of the city of houston and said, you can't do this anymore. because you don't have a permit to distribute food. and you also cook this food in a kitchen that is not certified by the city of houston.

the health department said the poor is susceptible to disease so we're going to shut you down. like amanda gale said, i guess the health department -- she said the health department would rather they go hungry, eat out of dumpsters than to get a hot-cooked meal from somebody that doesn't have a certified kitchen and doesn't have a permit to distribute food. in fact, the city of houston cleanup crews have gone through this area and taken the sleeping bags and the blankets away from these individuals and of course amanda gale and her kitchen folks continue to supply them with whatever they need. you know, the amanda gale and tray hairing have both tried to contact the health department. they have received no answer about why they were shut down and how they can re-open. because they want to follow the law them. want to do the right thing. but they want to help these people that they feed every night a hot meal that they don't have access to from some government program. this is a perfect example of the phrase that no good deed goes

unpunished. and they are punished in this -- punishing this good couple for what they're trying to do. i believe that the city of houston had been around when the good lord tried to feed the 5,000 they would have tried to prohibit that good work, since he had no permit to distribute food or had cooked that fish and five loaves from a certified kitchen. they'd have closed him down, i'm sure. but, you know, government is the problem here. and government should help these people help people. all they want to do is feed the hungry every night. i'm not sure there's anybody in the house that would do this. but they do it because they want to help people that are in need. so, i hope the city of houston will figure out a way to let tray and amanda gale and those other people and amanda gale's kitchen feed the hungry, clothe those that need to be clothed and take care of those out there on the street that are there not by choice but because of circumstances. and the city of houston needs to figure out a way that the

government can -- that the government is not the problem but help this good couple do this good work and let them continue to gather with the city, make sure that certain people in our city and houston, texas, are taken care of every night. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair lays before the house a personal request. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mrs. clarke of new york for -- ms. clarke of new york for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. mr. mcdermott of washington is recognized for five minutes. without objection. mr. mcdermott: mr. speaker, i rise today to encourage my republican colleagues to start having an honest debate about the health care law which they call a job-killing law, because it polls well but not because it's true. it seems pretty clear,

especially from listening to the republican attack ads during the last campaign, that the republican pollsters have found the key to winning the debate and others is about by saying job-killing as often as possible. if a democrat said the sun rises in the east, the republicans would say it's a job-killing sunrise. republicans entitle the current bill we are debating the repealing the job-killing health care law act. the basis for this job-killing rhetoric is a report that they released recently entitled, obamacare, a budget-busting, job-killing health care law. i've got a copy of it here if anybody wants to get it. all you have to do is contact the republicans. mr. speaker, in the last congress we took up the challenge of reforming health care in this country because the system was broken and creating tremendous damage to the american economy.

the fact is the health care law will help the economy, it will result in more efficiency, more stability of care, healthy americans and a fair cost. that's what the law will do. now, republicans have repeatedly misused statistics from the c.b.o. to support their argument that the law is primarily a job killer. we are truly in a situation of republican conclusions desperately in search of honest facts. let's look at the typical example. the republicans are twisting the views of experts to support their view. on the very first page of the report entitled "book care" republicans state that according to a nonpartisan c.b.o. office report from august of 2010, the law will result in a loss of 650,000 jobs. now, you can get that from the c.b.o. it's available for people to

read. but if you actually go to what they cite from the c.b.o. report, it's on page 48, the report really says that the economy will use less labor because many people will choose to work less or retire early as a result of the benefits in the new law. let me read the exact quote from the republican report. it says the nonpartisan c.b.o. has determined the law will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent, an estimate that adds up to roughly 650,000 jobs. the republicans side deliberately chops off the last part of the c.b.o. sentence to substantiate their claim. here's the entire sentence -- the congressional budget office estimates that legislation on net will reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by a

small amount, roughly half a percent. primarily by reducing the amount of labor that workers choose to supply. c.b.o. explicitly makes clear jobs will not be lost but instead that people will choose to work less in order to have a decent life with the new health care law. the american people won't be drowning in health care costs and risk to their coverage. some evening, on friday, fly home to seattle with me and meet the flight attendants from unite the airlines. we have the oldest base in the country. most of those women are working so that they can add health care benefits for their family because their husband has a job and no health care benefits. they're not flying for the pension, they're not flying for the salary, they're flying to keep their health care benefits until they can get their medicare. the republicans want to focus on their message no matter what the facts are.

the republicans say that health care reform is bad for american business. the national business group on health, a collection of nearly 300 large employers, including wal-mart, lockheed martin and others disagree and say repeal will be bad, bad for businesses. i close by quoting in a somber splash of honesty, the economic senator of "the wall street journal." on january 6, two weeks ago he wrote, talking about repeal of the health care law. remember, this is "the wall street journal." talking about repeal of the health care law may be a winning political strategy for republicans, a rare way to please both workers and business executives. and here's what they finally end with, as long as they don't actually succeed in doing it. the health care law isn't a job killing bill, it's good for business, it's good for american taxpayers, it's good

for consumers, it's good for everybody in this society. and i urge in i colleagues to recognize that words really do matter. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. mcdermott: stop confusing the american people. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes mr. jones of north carolina. mr. jones: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, today i had the honor and privilege of visiting the wounded warriors at bethesda naval hospital. each one of the young men i saw, the oldest being 23, is very special, as are all of our men and women in uniform. the medical staff at both bethesda and walter reed is treely amazing. they've done a wonderful job repairing the broken bodies and spirits of our young service members. the number of wounded warriors returning from war have become more prevalent with increased use of i.u.d.'s by the enemy. more and more of our young men and women are returning without

their arms and legs. tonight, mr. speaker, as a constant reminder the pain of war, i show you this picture of a young triple amputee and his wife. this man gave his body for this country and will struggle for the rest of his life. how many more will have to return home in this condition? this young man and his wife have just returned from the hospital. he is in a wheelchair. he lost an arm and two legs and he's looking at a beautiful american flag that was on the wall that had been drawn for him. it is time we declare a victory and get our troops out of afghanistan. it is evident that president karzai does not appreciate our commitment. if he did he would not be so corrupt. if he did he would not have made the comments he now has three main enemies, the taliban, the united states, and the international community, as stated in the "washington post" on december 13. he said that he if had to choose sides today, he would

choose the taliban. the taliban are killing american service men and women. mr. speaker, i join dennis kucinich as well as members of both parties in the hopes that president obama will keep his promise to start withdrawing our troops in july of this year. in closing, i would like to urge the american people to get engaged in this cause and to let the members of congress know how they feel. they must encourage the members of congress to vote to bring our troops home. the pain must end and we can easily declare a victory and bring our brave men and women home. mr. speaker, as i do all the time on the floor of the house when i speak, i ask god to please bless our men and women in uniform, to bless the families of our men and women in uniform, to ask god in his loving arms to hold their families giving a child for freedom in afghanistan and iraq. i ask god to please bless the house and senate that we will do what is right for the american people. i ask god to give strength, wisdom and courage to president

obama to do what is right for the american people and three times i will ask god, please, god, please continue to bless america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes ms. woolsey of california. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, our nation is now in its 10th straight year of war. the military occupation of afghanistan is longer than any war in our nation's history. an entire generation of young people, including my three grandchildren who came with me to visit washington for the swearing in is growing up knowing nothing but a nation at war. this war is not a just and moral war. it is a moral abomination with devastating human costs. and it's not just fiscally irresponsible and unsustainable

with a price tag of about $370 billion. but it is all of that. perhaps the most tragic irony of this war is for all the sacrifice, it's not even doing what it was supposed to do, keeping us safe and defeating a terrorist threat. if iraq and afghanistan have proven anything to us, mr. speaker, it's that we need an entirely new national security model, one that emphasizes brains over brawn and one that uses soft power instead of hard and one that protects america by relying on the most honorable american values, love of freedom, desire for peace, moral leadership, and compassion for the people of the world. with these values in mind, this week i once again introduced a resolution calling for the adoption of a smart security

platform. smart security would redirect our energy and resources away from warfare and it would focus instead on nonproliferation, conflict prevention, international diplomacy and multilateralism. that means, mr. speaker, renewing our commitment to cooperation with other nations, the united nations and other international institutions. smart security would build on the new start treaty ratified last month and move us more aggressively towards the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons. it would rearrange our budget priorities so we're no longer throwing billions of dollars at weapons systems designed for a different era and instead invest in human capital around the world. that means addressing root causes of instability and violent conflict by increasing development aid and debt relief to poor countries. we would be supporting programs that promote sustainable

development, that promote democracy building, human rights education, a strong civil society, generate equality education for women and girls and much, much more. the quadrennial of diplomacy and development review recently completed at the state department reaffirms the principles underlying smart security, calling for civilian power to lead the way in resolving conflict and reducing threats around the world. with diplomacy and development, mutually reinforcing one another. also strongly recommending a renewed focus on the rights and inconclusion of women and girls. the bottom line is that might doesn't make right. the conventional wisdom of peace through strength does not work, especially in an era with the greatest threats we face being nonstate actors.

a national security based on occupation and conquest has been given a chance to work over the last six decades and has failed miserably. what we need in afghanistan is a civilian surge, not a military surge, for the security of the american and the afghan people, we need to be humanitarian partners, not military occupiers. it's time, mr. speaker, to bring our troops home and implement smart security principles. and it's time that we do it now. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair recognizes mr. doyle of illinois. for what purpose does the gentleman rice? >> since mr. dold is not present i ask unanimous consent to use his time. the speaker pro tempore: as requested.

mr. burton: i'm congressman burton of indiana, it's nice to see you in the chair. the speaker pro tempore: thank you. mr. burton: five members of congress wrote to the president and we ask the president to take more steps to deal with the problem on the texas border because people have been killed, beaten up down there, shots have been fired across the border and 80 miles into the country, the united states of america we have signs telling people, warning people not to go south of there because we might be in danger of mexican drug cartels and people across the border siding with the drug cartels. there's a real problem. we didn't get an answer back from the president so we wrote again in november and again we didn't get a reply. around the end of december we got a reply from the homeland security from a fella in legislative affairs and he went through the same song and dance

they've gone through a long time and talking about how they're solving the problem on the border. just recently in the last few weeks, four roadworkers were out there in texas and they were working on the roads trying to fill potholes with gravel and do other things that was a shovel-ready project, incidentally, and were fired at from across the border which was a half mile away. now, the bullets didn't hit any of them but sure scared the dickens out of them. mike doyle of the county sheriff's department said a rancher spotted a white pickup truck fleeing the area on the mexican side after the shots were fired and think the drug cartel may have been firing those shots to divert attention away from what was going on there in order to get drugs smuggled across the border. the reason i bring all this up once again is because we sent $17,000 national guard troops to deal with the oil spill in the gulf and it was something

we should have done. we should have dealt with that problem as quickly as possible to make sure we stopped any environmental damage that might accrue from that and help the people of louisiana who were suffering and the other border states down there. but we haven't done anything but send about 1,400 national guard troops down to the border or close to the border and many of them have been withdrawn and we've got to do something to protect that 1,980 mile border between us and mexico. americans can't go within 50 miles of the border in arizona or 80 miles within the border -- close to the border of arizona and mexico because there's the threat for their safety and security. that is something that we cannot tolerate as a nation. we have a war going on, on the mexican-american border and we have to do whatever is necessary to protect americans and stop the drug trafficking coming across that border. we did it in colombia and that's not on our border, that's down south of the panama canal. and so we really need to

address this problem, so if i were talking to the president tonight, mr. speaker, i would say, mr. president, come on, let's do what has to be done to protect our southern border. we're doing the job over in the far east. we're doing the job over in the middle east, and that's ok. but our border, our front yard is threatened every single day by these drug cartels and terrorists coming across the borderer -- border and american ranchers and business people can't conduct their daily lives down there because there's no security. if i were talking to the president, i would say please address this issue, don't ignore members of congress, five members who wrote you about this issue, don't ignore us, do something about it and don't send us anymore of these inane letters that don't say anything about solving the problem. it's a real problem about the security of the country and people that live and traverse that area. mr. president, let's get on with it. .

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. burton: i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes ms. kaptur of ohio. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? >> i seek to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you, mr. speaker. we're having debates about health care because americans are nervous about changing something so important to their families and that of course makes politicians nervous about reform. this skepticism is understandable. attempting to adjust policies and programs that comprise now 17% of our economy, the biggest driver of the federal deficit, that literally touches every american family poses daunting challenges. but as people begin the analysis, the appropriate comparison is not some idealized

magical state, but comparison to the path we are on which everybody agrees is unsustainable. medical costs left unchecked will literally bankrupt the country. the department of defense will spend more on health care this year than china uses to run its entire military operation for seven months. every objective independent expert acknowledges and laments the fact that the united states is the world's health care underachiever. we pay more for health care than our major allies and competitors in europe, japan and canada, but our people get sick more often, they die sooner and unlike any other country, people are bankrupted by medical costs. about 2,000 people per day. all the while we have a record number of uninsured americans. now over 50 million.

sadly we're getting exactly what we paid for. more procedures, multiple providers, emphasis on specialty care rather than someone who can help us with our own efforts to negotiate this complex, fragmented health care system. america actually spends more administering our health insurance system and finding ways to deny care than any other country in the world spends on providing care. starting from scratch we could give better care for less money, but we're not starting from scratch. we're starting with an economic and structural behem oth, encompassing 17% of the economy. it's the largest employer in most communities and it's evolved over 2/3 of a century of public and private investment and government legislation. today our hybrid system largely administered through hundreds of agencies, programs and large providers, with the federal

government paying half the bill directly. the good news is that we have proven that we can get better results for less than we are spending and the health care reform legislation provides this framework. first we don't need more money -- first, we don't need more money. in fact, if we implement the existing legislation it can be a source of savings in the future. the good news is we don't have to deal with unproven techniques or technologies. we know what to do. we don't even have to look at foreign models that are more successful than ours. we can look right here in the united states. my community of portland, oregon, delivers better health care for medicare, for instance, to its recipients than other communities where costs are twice as high. and it's not just portland. this can be found in areas in the west, the upper midwest, there are also innovative health care practices in the mayo clinic, the cleveland clinic,

gunderson luther. the government itself has proven how to be more fibt. the veterans administration -- efficient. the veterans administration has a practiced model for older citizens with complex health problems that face our veterans. the v.a. has automaticed its medical record system. it pays its doctors for performance, not procedures. and they figured out a way to get better prescription drug cost for millions of our veterans. many of the techniques for reducing the number of unnecessary hospital admissions, for bundling services, for having accountable care organizations are known and actually supported by my republican friends. they've been embraced by republican governors. this is not foreign territory. we know it can work. the path forward is clear. it's important not to lose two important years in reforming our medical system, giving better health care and starting to reduce these massive future

deficits. after having identified weak spots in implementation, let's work to hold people accountable. don't attack the c.b.o. for scoring the bill as written. which is their job. attack efforts to undermine the cost-saving elements of the bill. if a state can more creatively provide health care envisioned in the exchanges, lets them do it. give them the waivers and encourage them to experiment as long as they need -- meet minimum national standards. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. buerkle of new york. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> to speak for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise to support h.r. 2, legislation to repeal the so-called affordable care act, a new effort to strengthen our health care

system. this will be the first step to ensuring that the american people will remain in control of their own health care through a system that is patient-centered and provides health care choices, not government-imposed mandates. many people question why we're doing this. they say, why repeal the new health care law if there are good provisions in it? well there may be some aspects of the 3,000-major bill which is now law -- 3,000-page bill which is now law that were commendble 10 months ago. however, the few positive provisions did not outweigh the fact that the new law's most damaging aspect is that it turns over to the federal government the individual's right to make their own health care choices for themselves and for their families. the new law has given washington bureaucrats extraordinary power to control health care decisions of all americans. forcing us to buy health insurance that washington deems to be acceptable, potentially

finding -- fining us for refusing to do so which i believe would be unconstitutional, determining our choice of doctors, hospitals or home care. mr. frelinghuysen: deciding which medicines we can take and which medical procedures will be available to our families. putting 1/6 of our economy under government control. let me be clear, i support health care reform. however i do not support this new health care law which represents to a very great extent the washington takeover of our health care system. this law is creating over 150 new boards, bureaus, committees, commissions, offices, pilot programs, working groups and agencies which will issue onerous regulations that will change our health care system forever. and not for the better. remember, over 90% of all americans have health coverage for themselves and their families. why did the last congress insist on a virtual takeover of the other 10%?

that's why i support the repeal, coupled with major changes to safety those who do not have coverage without harming the plans of millions of americans who do. my colleagues, why is this repeal necessary today? because the negative effects of this new law are already being felt and threatening the practice of medicine as we know it. this new law has eroded your right to choose your health care and your doctor and is putting bureaucrats and politicians in charge. despite predictions from the white house, insurance premiums are not going down. to the contrary, premiums are rising across the nation for people who have insurance as insurance companies struggle to pay the costs of a rath of new mandates imposed by washington. even as we speak doctors are changing their practices because this new law discouraging their ability to work -- discourages their ability to work as single practitioners or group practice.

doctors face more paper, with, more red tape and more risk to their license to practice. furthermore the new law does nothing to solve or diminish the wave of junk medical lawsuits that force doctors, medical professions and hospitals to practice expensive defensive medicine. also missing from the law is any program to promote and support medical education in america. the next generation of young people who we count on -- who we count on us for care. furthermore hospitals will face reduced medical reimbursements and more rules and regulations, causing more physicians to refuse to treat senior citizens. and what about the promises? we heard about the benefit it's of the new law. to protect americans from being denied coverage due to pre-existing or other conditions, 27 states have created their own high-risk insurance pools. others have used an option in the law to let their residents buy coverage through a new federal health plan.

last spring medicare's chief actuary predicted the 375,000 people would sign up for one of these special plans by the end of 2010. in fact, the department of health and human services reported last month that just over 8,000 people had enrolled. this difference of 367,000 enrollees raises real questions about the then majority's demand for this provision. and which claims to provide coverage for another 34 million americans we need to be reminded that 18 of these newly insured people will gain coverage through the financially stressed medicaid program which is almost broke. my colleagues, current medicaid enrollees are already having trouble finding doctors who will see them because of low reimbursement rates. this law proposed to add another 18 million patients to a struggling and absolutely necessary program. in addition, our hospitals are

already reeling. passage of the new health care law has ac sem rate -- accelerated the lawoff of -- layoff of hundreds of employees in hospitals in my district. when further medicare cuts take hold, how are these institutions going to maintain their quality of care? they aren't. what of the advertised benefits of the new health care law? doctors actually claim the new law would reduce the federal deficit. this claim is based on dubious economic assumptions, double counting and other budget gimmickry. it's astounding that this law counts 10 years of anticipated revenues to offset six years of new spending. here's a simple fact. if obamacare is fully implemented it will not cut the deficit. the law will add more than $700 billion to the deficit in its first 10 years. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. frelinghuysen: i support h.r. 2 and urge congress to pass it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: mr. keating of massachusetts for

five minutes. mr. keating: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the 50th anniversary of president john f. kennedy's inaugural address. in sell -- and celebrate the many months of altruism that have emerged from the simple words, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. it is this ex preparation of love of country -- expression of love of country this spirit that president kennedy eadvocated in awful us that causes me to rise today for my main speech on the floor of the house of representatives. even 50 years later, we take from his speech the reminder that we still have work to do to improve our country and that work is incumbent upon us to finish. as a young child i remember watching the ceremony on january 20, 1961. i remember the poet robert frost red a poem from the podium as

his eyeglasses fogged up. i remember president kennedy taking the stage and i could have never imagined the impact he would have on my generation and the generations to come. here in washington president kennedy is never far from my mind because i have the distinct honor of coming to work in the same office that president kennedy had when he was a member of congress. our space is an historic treasure and i'm so fortunate to be entrusted with the safekeeping of this memorial and all that it represents to the people of massachusetts and every american who has been inspired by president kennedy. my first days and weeks in congress have been an incredible privilege, serving my community in massachusetts and working to find solutions for the challenges that our country faces. president kennedy's words are timeless and we can and should learn from them today. he called on our country to

remember that civility is not a sign of weakness. his words should inform our national conversation as we hopefully renew our commitment to respect and graciousness. where politics means more than stark division and glaring partisanships. our country needs healing. and kennedy would believe that it is up to all of us to participate in restoring this type of civility. 50 years ago, he said, let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. i welcome this challenge and i'll spend my time in congress living up to those words. good ideas are not restricted to one political party or the other. so i look forward to hearing from my constituents of all political strifes. if my neighbor has an idea to create jobs, i want to hear it. if a resident of flimoth has a proposal on how we can move our country forward, i want to help. if a fellow citizen in -- has a

plan to make our country safer and stronger, i look forward to working together. in closing, let us remember that president kennedy had a long-term vision for this country. he understood that a change this direction takes time and we understand that a return to values that he kept will not be immediate. as he said, all of this will not be finished in the first 100 days, nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in this life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime in this planet. but let us begin. so as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of president john f. kennedy's inauguration, let us begin anew. mr. speaker, i yield my time back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

>> tomorrow we will vote on the patients repeal act. repeal would only re-create many problems that last year bill's solved. instead of identifying specific improvements, republicans have proposed to repeal every consumer protection, protections that benefit all of our constituents. we cannot allow this irresponsible bill to become law. mrs. lowey: during debate of health insurance reform in 2009, i received countless letters from individuals throughout my district who testified to the dire need to

address high costs and an adequacy in service. for example, a constituent from white plains told me about her 27-year-old son who is battling cancer and cannot afford some of the treatment. she wrote, quote, from discrimination by insurance companies against the millions of us with preexisting conditions, end quote, to lack of affordable care, we've had enough, quote. by ending denials of coverage based on preexisting conditions, 9,200 residents of my congressional district with preexisting conditions will now have access to health insurance. that is just one benefit of reform that's at stake. if the repeal law were to become law, insurers could impose devastating, annual and lifetime benefit caps. young adults would lose

coverage on their parents' plan. pregnant women with breast cancer and prostate cancer survivors could be denied coverage when they most deed it. seniors would pay higher prescription drug costs. consumer protections for 445,000 constituents who have private insurance would be rescinded, resulting in higher health care costs and reduced coverage. 22,100 businesses and 91,000 families in my district would not receive tax credits to access better and more affordable coverage. large insurers would no longer be required to spend at least 85% of premiums on health benefits and justify large rate increases. and reforms, the commonwealth foundation estimates, will lower -- lower the rate of premium increases by $2,000 and

by the end of the decade we'll be undone. i am very happy to work with anyone who genuinely wants to improve health coverages to make it more affordable. i am deeply concerned that this vote tomorrow is about keeping campaign promises without serious examination of the impact of this repeal, especially on americans like my 27-year-old constituent in white plains who has cancer. to my colleagues, if you want to help your constituents who have insurance and the millions of americans who don't, he -- i urge you to vote no on repealing every consumer protection that benefits them. thank you and i yield back my time. it the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota. >> i ask to address the house for five minutes.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i rise to commemorate my dear friend, arlene bush, entering 25th year as a member of bloomington school board. she turns 80 later this year and first joined the school board in 1981. while times have changed since then, arlene's dedication to bloomington students and schools they attend has not. she started her own educational journey in a small, two-room schoolhouse in the tiny town of oden, minnesota and later moved to minneapolis where she graduated from high school in 1948. later after that she got married and settled in bloomington, minnesota, which at that time was a growing suburb of minneapolis where she raised six daughters before beginning her career in public service. her big heart and humble demeanor endeared her to good friends and made it a point to be a community leader through the duties of her position by being present at sporting events, plays, pep fests,

musicals, concerts and ceremonies celebrating the young people of bloomington. mr. paulsen: she not only advocates for bloomington students on the board, she encourages personally every chance she gets. she understands the children need not only financial and operational support in their education, she exemplifies a leader who invests in their interests, recognizes their achievements and comforts them in times of adversity. arlene's milestone isn't one that can be measured in the number of hours logged in meetings or the number of terms that she served but rather in the lives of the thousands, literally thousands of students that benefited from her commitment to education. over the years, the name arlene bush has become synonymous with education among the generations of bloomington students whose lives have been enriched through her many lives of service. she's a pillar of the community whose presence on the school board has absolutely provided a steady hand as times have changed.

as a father with four daughters in public schools myself, it is reassuring to know there are dedicated public servants like arlene out there working to give our children the best education possible. and like arlene, these unsung heroes don't do it for the glory or admiration, they do it simply because they share a common desire to better our community. and these kind souls proved you don't have to be a congressman or senator to change the world or touch someone's life. inside all of us is the ability to contribute to the public good and to make the world a better place for future generations. when asked recently to look back on our many years of service on the school board, arlene replied in a very true minnesota passion, she wasn't boastful or proud but rather humbled, she said she was thankful for the opportunity to serve. mr. speaker, as i close, i just want to take the time to let arlene know that we, too, are thankful, thankful for her zure to deserve. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time.

ms. ros-lehtinen of florida. mr. fleming of louisiana. without objection, the ordering of the five-minute special order in favor of the gentleman from illinois, mr. dold, is vacated. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from illinois, mr. dold, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designate knee of the majority leader. mr. dold: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. dold: mr. speaker, it is with tremendous honor, excitement and humility i rise to the floor of this great chamber to represent the aspirations and hard-working values of illinois' 10th congressional district, chicago's north and northwest suburbs. let me begin by expressing our thoughts and prayers remain with congresswoman giffords as she undergoes her recovery. my heart goes out to her and

her family, along with the other families whose lives have been changed by this tragedy in tucson on january 8. tonight i am here to continue the tradition of this congressional seat by delivering a speech that lays out how i intend to legislate and explains the manner in which i will work with my colleagues to move this country forward. over the past 18 months, i have traveled all over our great district. trying to ask people what keeps them up at night. stretching from wilmette to walk egan, libertyville to glennview, highland park to palatine. i represent a diverse community that asks its leaders to attack a wide-ranging, ambitious agenda and from all conversations i had at train stations and centers, at countless small businesses in diners and in town hall meetings, there's one thing i

know, the 112th congress must focus on jobs in the economy, on reigning in the out of control spending in washington and to make sure that our country remains safe and free. beyond talking with members of my community, i also took the time to study the heritage of the congressional seat representing the people of northern cook and eastern lake counties, beginning with our first representative, john mclean, upon illinois' founding statehood in 1818, ours is an area that's always demanded a high standard of leadership, a commitment to local issues, and yet an eye towards american leadership in the world. our community is bound by deep-rooted characteristics. namely, a desire for pragmatic, effective leadership. vigorous independence and the ability to work with the other side of the aisle in a civilized and bipartisan manner. these are the virtues that i pledge to continue in congress

as i begin my service to the people of the 10th congressional district. in looking at the work of my predecessors, i have come across a number of individuals who served our area in the highest tradition of public service, with a commitment to the greater good. tonight i would like to take a moment to speak about a few of them. the first woman to represent northeastern illinois in congress did so with remarkable distinction, skill and effectiveness. margaret church took to congress in 1949, succeeding her late husband, congressman ralph church. she served until 1962, promoting fiscal restraint, equal pay for women and civil rights initiatives. she held a healthy disdain for the extravagant federal spending, which we can all certainly appreciate today. and foreshadowing the men who would follow her, margaret church encouraged democratic

reforms abroad from her position on the committee on foreign affairs. mrs. church retired in 1963 only to be succeeded in the 88th congress by a man who also took to causes of fiscal conservatism and american leadership in the world, donald rumsfeld. the people of northeastern illinois elected secretary rumsfeld, a fellow graduate to congress at the young age of 30. from 1963 to 1969, he served our area with great distinction. he held a seat on the joint economic committee and perhaps during the most critical time in the development of our space program, he sat on the house committee on science and aeronautics. as many know, his tenure in congress was just the beginning of a long career in public service. 10 years later, he saw the beginning of another incredible career devoted to public service. for 21 years, jon porter served

the people of the 10th district. in that time he made his great mark on both at home and abroad. serving on the appropriations committee as the chairman of the subcommittee on labor, health and human services and education, jon porter achieved a record of tremendous legislative success. reflecting on the values of his district. he advocated for scientific funding and advancements in health care research, displayed a commitment to the environment, championed a strong respect for the taxpayer and set a quality for high quality constituent service. jon porter also recorded impressive accomplishments in the areas of foreign policy. after a trip to the soviet union, he founded the congressional human rights caucus. this led to him help free russia, fight for the rights of north korean refugees and work for the relis