mr. fleming explored the misunderstanding between civilians and the military, the roles and missions, and what the military and civilian communities need to do to narrow the divide. bruce fleming appeared on c-span's washington journal where he takes fewer phone calls, e-mails and tweets. the program is 40 minutes. >> professor bruce fleming is a professor of english at the u.s. naval academy. he joins us for the last 45 minutes on the memorial day as we turn our attention to the military categories. we asked professor fleming to be with us for a piece that he wrote about the academies in the new york time "the academies march towards mediocrity." how anapolis and others lost their way. why do you think that? >> guest: i've had constant contact with my students, organization, approaching 3,000 students. i've had time to test the waters, call it that way. the problem with the military academy, they burn out their students. for me, that's the thing that's most hurtful. the military academy is to produce effective officers to lead the enlisted people. so what i've seen is that we actually ha

mr. fleming: i thank the gentleman. yes, indeed, the bottom line, what we're saying here is, we can achieve all these laudable goals without the complex bureaucracy of obamacare. we can expand health care to many more millions of people without creating an individual mandate and an employer mandate, certainly there are far more efficient kays -- ways as congressman broun points out that we can provide coverage to people who may have pre-existing illnesses that are already in play in many states, excellent programs and so i'd like to inject just two more possible solutions to this and then segue again into the dismantling of obamacare that you referred to, the gentleman -- the other gentleman from georgia, and that is two things, number one, health savings accounts, h.s.a.'s grew by 25% in 2009, a total of 10 million americans. americans love health savings accounts. they are work, we implemented them in my own companies back home, six years ago, it has totefully flattened out our premiums. the problem with that is, obam

mr. fleming: may i have 30 more seconds? mr. mckeon: i yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. mr. fleming: that the military is indeed a unique organization and that such restriction in such policies can indeed go forward. i'd just like to say in wrapping up some important statistics that i think should be mentioned and that is that 60% to 67% of army and marine combat members said that this would be a major disruption if this were implemented. 17% of the spouses said they would urge their active duty member to get out and that certainly negates the problem of somehow we would lose too many soldiers in this. so i urge my colleagues today to vote against this. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will note that the gentleman from california has nine minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from california has 13 1/4 minutes remaining. the gentlewoman. mrs. davis: thank you. i yield one minute to the majority leader of the house of representatives, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. mr. ho

mr. fleming: may i have 30 more seconds? mr. mckeon: i yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. mr. fleming: that the military is indeed a unique organization and that such restriction in such policies can indeed go forward. i'd just like to say in wrapping up some important statistics that i think ould be mentioned and that is that 60% to 67% of army and marine combat mbers said that this would be a major disruption if this were implemented. 17% of the spouses said they would urge their active duty member to get out and that certainly negates the problem of somehow we would lose t many soldiers in this. so i urge my colleagues today to vote against this. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will note that the gentleman from california has nine minutes remaining. the gentlewoman from california has 13 1/4 minutesemaining. the gentlewoman. mrs. davis: thank you. i yield one minute to the majority leader of the house of representatives, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for one minute. mr. hoyer: i t

mr. fleming: mr. speaker, on november 2, americans sent a message to washington that we are sick and tired of the out-of-control spending and bigger government that has existed over the last two years. while the lame duck congress's unfinished business to complete such as extending the current income tax rates, democrats in congress have hinted at other plans to continue their irresponsible spending spree by passing a massive omnibus spending bill. mr. speaker, after the bell ringing on november 2, surely democrats in their few remaining days of control are not going to intend to use this lame-duck session to continue the failed policies that got us into this mess to begin with. i implore this body to cut spending, balance the budget, extend the current tax rates and set this nation on a new path to greatness while ensuring the people's voice is once again heard in washington. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: f what purpose does the gentlewoman from maine seek recognition? ms. pingree: to addres

mr. gingrey: dr. fleming, thank you, and thank you for being with us this evening. before i defer to my colleague from georgia, dr. paul broun, i just wanted to mention something, mr. speaker, that congressman fleming just said in regard to the taxes, the tax situation that we have and hopefully the compromise, obviously the compromise worked out between president obama, his administration, and the republican leadership in the house and the senate, all of that has to be approved, mr. speaker, as you know, by the entire senate and by this entire house. before it becomes law. and i hope that we'll be able to do that before we leave here for any kind of a break, even a christmas break. but as part of that compromise, there is to be this cut in the payroll tax for a full year to literally cut the employee portion of the social security payroll tax from 6.2% down to 4.2%. i think, mr. speaker, that's a good thing. just as keeping the tax rates that are currently existing and have for almost the last 10 years, to keep them all in place. not to raise any, especially not on