mr. garamendi: yes. ms. watson: too many people think that we're going to change the way health is delivered. and i say to people when i have town halls, how many of you have insurance? and the hands go up. how many of you like your insurance? and the hands come down. i said, well, keep your hand up if you like your insurance. if you like it, keep it. mr. garamendi: exactly. ms. watson: if you don't like it and it's not meeting the needs of your -- yourself and your loved ones, then you can go and shop around and find an insurance that is affordable. but you know what makes me just delighted tonight? and that is we have prevention written into this law. isn't it wonderful if you could go and check so you don't have breast cancer? that's one of the penalties i guess for being a woman. but, you know, men can get breast cancer. and you were in the legislature in california when we discovered in 1980 that breast cancer research was done on men. and the group of us women got together and said, we're not going to

mr. thompson: representative garamendi, thank you for bringing us together. you're right to have over-- mr. tonko: i thank you for bringing us together. people say, where are the savings coming from? not from you, from the prophet calling -- column. it's allowing our seniors to have an advantage by having that program continue, but making certain that the oversubsidization is denied. you're very right about the fraud and the abuse that may be part of that programming. but it's also important to note, i believe, that situations like medical home models and accountable care organizations will provide for the collaboratives i believe to coordinate the resources, improve access and bring together the confluence of services in a way that streamlines without hurt, actually helping the outcome for our seniors and of course free annual wellness visits, making certain the co-payments, deductibles are not going to saddle individuals, again, having to be forced to dig into your own pocket, we will now have free annual opportunity screenings of essential types, annual che

mr. garamendi: $1,800 a month. ms. watson: it would raise their claims up to $1,800. mr. garamendi: additional costs. ms. watson: ilnever forget this man -- i will never forget this man. he had a heavy accent but is an american citizen. he said, i have three jobs and he said, my 2-year-old became ill. even with my three jobs, i was not able to afford an -- for an insurance coverage and could not get coverage and she died. we should not have that in the united states of america. mr. garamendi: that is yet again an example of what is seen every day, in every community in this nation. there is a denial of coverage by the insurance companies and for those who have no insurance, they face a situation where death, bankruptcy and the loss of their jobs. it's not necessary. now, you mentioned -- we talked about the cost in the system. perhaps this is where we would let this discussion end today. this nation is spending 17.5% of its total wealth on health care. our competitors around the world, not including china, which is completely different, but the other industrialized nations

mr. garamendi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. garamendi: i have the great plive and -- privilege and honor of representing travis air force base and the nearly -- more than 20,000 active service men and women on that base. their mission is one of supplying the necessary equipment and armaments and food and other materials to men and women that are in the front zone of fighting. they also provide extraordinary support for humanitarian efforts, most recently those in guam and they may very well be heading to chile on missions there. and so i honor them and call our attention to their work. again, i remain really saddened by the use of this time that the republican party has -- and my colleagues on the republican side have used this time instead of honoring the work of our active duty men and women in the armed forces, they're using it to debate a bill of which there's plenty of time. most recently the discussion about the availability. the senate bill has been available to all of us since christmas eve, three months, to read th

mr. garamendi, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. fwaregare -- mr. garamendi: mr. speaker, thank you very much. i doubt we'll be here for the full 60 minutes but there are things we need to discuss, especially following the previous speaker as he talked about the american recovery act and the things that have actually been done to really move the american economy forward. one of those things was the stimulus bill, the american recovery act, that is now just about 13 months old. in that american recovery act there was a major element dealing with green technology, green jobs which i think most americans and most economists feel is where the future lies. we know we have an energy security issue. we know we import far more in an we possibly could afford in foreign oil. we have to become energy independent, and in the american recovery act there was an enormous advancement in research and in subsidies to encourage green technologies. i'd like now with the permission of the speaker to enter into a colloquy with my colleagues, and i'd like to yield to our c

mr. garamendi: thank you. i want to thank the gentlelady from pennsylvania and the gentleman from new york for the opportunity to discuss this critical issue of small business and jobs. we know the statistics are very bad but the discussion that you two were having a moment ago used the word investment. we talked about the american reinvestment act, the now 13 months old. and it's absolutely critical that we always ponder investment because the investments that we can make at the government level will lead to short-term job growth as well as to long-term job growth and stability. years ago we looked in california about how do you grow the california economy, i did a report on it, this was more than 25 years ago. and we noted that the history of california's great economic growth was centered on five things. the first and foremost of them was the enormous investment that was made in education. both in k through 12 and community colleges and in the research institutions. it was that investment that gave the foun

mr. garamendi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. garamendi: a moment ago i asked, madam speaker, i asked if we could focus on the issue before us which is certainly a meritorious issue. but apparently our colleagues from the republican party want to debate health care, so, ok, guys, let's debate health care. a moment ago the speaker from wherever you are from spoke about somehow limiting the m.r.i.'s. you're absolutely right. the legislation does limit m.r.i.'s that are ordered by a doctor that owns the m.r.i. machine. there's blatant fraud going on and there's blatant overuse and payments by the taxpayers through the medicare and medicaid program as a result of physician-owned practices. pharmaceuticals, pharmacies as well as the m.r.i.'s and hospitals and this legislation does limit it. you're quite right. we must limit that kind of overuse. i've been at this a long time. i was health -- i was the chairman of the health committee in california in the 1980's when we limited it. i was the insurance commissioner. i've seen these perni

mr. garamendi from california for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house the following members are recognized for five minutes. mr. cummings of maryland. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> request unanimous consent to speak out of order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. >> i thank you, madam chair. if i might, we heard just a moment ago from one of our esteemed colleagues from the republican side that there were no savings in the health care bill. in fact, there are substantial savings, at least according to the congressional budget office, and over time the american deficit would be substantialally reduced. let me just tell i -- substantially reduced. let me tell you some of the reasons why. first of all, by extending coverage to most americans you eliminate one of the most difficult cost increases in the system. and that is that the uninsured wind up in the emergency room, usually

mr. garamendi: i often wonder what party of the world our colleagues are living in on the other side of thearrived here on november 5, on november 6 there was an up and dune vote on a major health care reform bill. the senate did it on christmas eve. there has been an up or down vote. we can now pass it onto the president, get it signed and simultaneously make corrections in the senate. sounds to me like that's an open process and we've been at this now for more than a year here and this nation for more in an a comprentry trying to provide health care for all. and let's keep in mind that our economy absolutely demands that we take action now. 17% of our economy's being used. the more we spend the more uninsured we have. we saw -- we solved those problems with this bill. it's time for action. it's time to stop saying no and get on with solving a major fundamental problem here in america. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objectio