mr. gingrey: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to respond to my good friend from iowa, because he's absolutely right. the president did make that comment that, hey, this problem would go away. all we have to do is grant amnesty to 12 million illegals and then we won't have this problem and they'll be eligible for government subsidies under the government plan or exchange or whatever. but he did say, mr. speaker, he did say emphatically that there should abprovision in h.r. 3200 if that happened to be the bill and i hope it won't be, but he said that he agreeed that there ought to be an absolute provision that specifically states that before a person is eligible for any of these government subsidies, that they have to have proof of their legality, not citizenship, but they are in this country legally. and that proof, he said, the thing speaks for itself. i'm paraphrasing what the president said. he was pretty emphatic. i yield. mr. akin: this is the august 8 speech. there are those who claim that our reform effort will insur

mr. gingrey: yes, of course. mr. fleming: this, according to our president and our colleagues on the democratic side, suggest that this government option will be sort of an antidote to the problem we have in insurance today that there's not enough competition. and, again, i don't know of any economics textbook, any economic model that suggests that the way to create more competition in the workplace or in the business world is to create artificial pricing which is what this does. so what artificial pricing does, particularly when it's backed up by taxpayer dollars in effect creates a situation where insurance companies will be put out of business. and that will, of course, cave the entire insurance industry. mr. gingrey: and i thought we'd go to the next fact then, again, quoting from our president last night. "not a dollar of the medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan." i think he spoke the truth there because i don't think there's any money left in the medicare trust fund. i think past congresses for

mr. gingrey. >> madame chairman, thank you.madam secretary, thank you very much for being with us again, let me just say at the outset that your efforts along with those of secretary janet napolitano when, way back i guess in june/july when you were getting confirmed, i think you've done a great job. no question about it. i don't think anybody could ever accuse you about being katrinaed on this issue. you've got b a lot of money appropriated toward this effort. my only concern back then, a little bit lesser now, was the issue of greating a pandemic of fear. i mentioned that to you and you have already addressed that in your testimony, but i want to ask you about particularly -- particularly about pregnant women because that was what i did in my previous life as an ob-gyn physician and i have three adult daughters and a daughter-in-law and nine grandchildren, daughter-in-law just had a baby three weeks ago. >> congratulations. >> thank you. thank you, madame secretary. very concerned was she, though, about this issue of the swin

mr. gingrey: madam speaker, to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. gingrey: madam speaker, experts have predicted that meaningful liability reform can save our health care system $126 billion annually. what does $126 billion in annual savings mean? we would not have to cut $500 billion from our seniors' medicare program over the next 10 years. we would not have to levy $800 billion in job-killing taxes on our economy. we would not have to ask every american to give up their liberty because of a government -- to purchase government insurance that they may not be able to afford. my colleagues, meaningful liability reform is the silver bullet in this debate. it can stop the practice of defensive medicine, it can save our health care system over $100 billion a year and protect the american people from the occasional greedy lawyer seeking a windfall. as an ob-gyn who practiced medicine over 30 years, i know how dire the consequences are if we continue our failure to act. it's time to put partisan politics as

mr. gingrey, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. gingrey: mr. speaker, i thank you and i thank the minority leader, john boehner of ohio, the minority whip, eric cantor of virginia, and the minority conference chairman, mike pence from indiana, our leadership, forgiving me the opportunity to take this hour this afternoon as the designee of the republican party, the minority party. and like my colleagues on other side of the aisle, the democratic majority that you just heard from, mr. speaker, concerning health care reform, my hour also will be spent discussing this topic of tremendous importance to the american people, certainly we were home during the august recess for almost 5 1/2 weeks and i think each and a every member on both sides of the aisle, if they didn't know health care was the number one issue, mr. speaker, when they went home to their districts, they found out pretty quickly. i think, mr. speaker, you would agree with me on that. certainly it was all over the television, news, cable news, the networks. so we are in a time in this

mr. gingrey: mr. speaker, thank you.i rise today to honor the tremendous achievements of 17-year-old american tennis player, melanie oudin. she was born on september 23, 1991 in marietta, georgia, where i reside and she has captured the heart of america with her inspiring performance at the 2009 united states open. melanie entered the united states open as the youngest player in the top 100, numbered 67. the number three american behind serena and venus williams. this was melanie's second u.s. open and she played incredibly well. melanie ousted the number four seed, 13 seed, 29 seed before losing in the quarterfinals to the number nine player. this series of wins comes on the back ever her performance at wimbledon this summer where she made the fourth round. melanie's sneakers, pink and yellow, with the word believe stamped on the heel, sum up her attitude about life and sports. and she's shown all of us what can be achieved if you only work hard enough. i know that i and the other residents of the marietta, georgia, are

mr. gingrey: mr. speaker, i certainly appreciate the gentlelady from minnesota for carrying this hour of important information in regard to the health care reform proposal, h.r. 3200, and also my good friend and colleague, physician colleague, from the great state of louisiana, dr. john fleming, as the gentlelady has said before coming to congress from the state of georgia, i spent something like 31 years practicing medicine, 26 as an ob-gyn physician. and the physician members in this body and there are about 17 of us, five on the democratic side, 12 on the republican side, probably have over 400 years of clinical experience combined in regard to health care. so, you know, we bring to this issue, i think, a fund of knowledge that needs to be listened to and listened very carefully to. not that we're necessarily the experts or the last word but i think we are a very important word. as mrs. bachmann, representative bachmann, was saying, the president right here, mr. speaker, two weeks ago, as he spoke

mr. gingrey has brought this amendment for to say, look, you cannot do that, you cannot let a bureaucratractice medicine and make those decisions. they cannot interfere with the practice of medicine, and i am very pleased that he has brought this amendment forward. the amendment deals with section 931 of the public health service act, not the whole act. that section that deals with the center for quality improvements, and that is important for us to realize, that you cannot have a bureaucrat making those decisions. i am appreciative of the amendment and of his efforts to make certain that this legislation moves to being something that is patient centered, rather than something that is going to be more power to the government, and with that i yield the balance of my time to mr. gingrey. >> i think the gentle lady for yielding, and i would like to address that the distinguished chairman ameritrust -- emeritus asked. as she points out, this is a very low -- very narrowly drawn amendment. it is applicable to section 931. let me repeat it. this amendment would prevent any federal employee or

mr. gingrey: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: so recognized. mr. gingrey: madam speaker, on monday the washington post published an editorial talking about the net neutrality proposal. this proposal would call the federal government to introduce unnecessary regulation that would inherently slow down the international -- internet volume users. the so-called internet freedom protection act is pending in the house. today, the internet runs smoothly and networks balances your email, music downloads and streaming video because the internet runs without government interference. yet, net knew ralt would disrupt that. madam speaker, in this case, the washington post got it right. implement a net -- internet knew ralt will stifle the very technological growth that we need to continue to stay competitive in the global marketplace and it needs to be defeated. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. are there any further one-minute requests? the chair lays before the house the following

mr. gingrey. >> i thank you for yielding. want to address some of the questions that was as of counsel. we certainly appreciate the depth of his experience. those questions needed to be asked. as she points out, this is a very low -- very narrowly drawn amendment. it is applicable to section 931. let me repeat it. this amendment would prevent any federal employee or appointee to dictate how a medical provider practices medicine as a result of the development of best practices by the center for quality improvement. the bureaucrat could not use of best practices to dictate what a doctor could do. with that, i yield back. >> i yield back my time. >> mr. doyle? >> thank you. it is always amusing when you hear this argument that we do not want to let bureaucrats make these decisions for patients. like the current system is somehow letting patients making a decision. i love to see a poll of americans and ask them whether they like to see someone in washington with no profit motive make a decision on what it paid for purses a bean c

mr. gingrey. >> madame chairman, thank you. madam secretary, thank you very much for being with us again, let me just say at the outset that your efforts along with those of secretary janet napolitano when, way back i guess in june/july when you were getting confirmed, i think you've done a great job. no question about it. i don't think anybody could ever accuse you about being katrinaed on this issue. you've got b a lot of money appropriated toward this effort. my only concern back then, a little bit lesser now, was the issue of greating a pandemic of fear. i mentioned that to you and you have already addressed that in your testimony, but i want to ask you about particularly -- particularly about pregnant women because that was what i did in my previous life as an ob-gyn physician and i have three adult daughters and a daughter-in-law and nine grandchildren, daughter-in-law just had a baby three weeks ago. >> congratulations. >> thank you. thank you, madame secretary. very concerned was she, though, about this issue of the swi

mr. gingrey: if the gentleman would yield and you have hit on a point that i've just got to address. the president spoke to the american school children today and i think the president did a fine job. i mean the speech -- i know early on there may have been concerns about curriculum, recommendations, that sort of thing, but i heard the secretary of education over the weekend, secretary duncan talk about this upcoming speech and i couldn't agree more with what he said on sunday morning, very logical, made sense to me and the president gave a very powerful speech to the american school children and taught just what judge carter just mentioned about, personal responsibility and doing the right thing even when it's tough, even when it's hard to do that. and golly, if our leaders in the highest position of our country can't do that, how do we expect kids in the fifth grade how do i expect my 11-year-old twin granddaughters who are in the fourth grade and i talk to them all the time about the personal responsibility of going a little beyond what's required, doing more, getting up earlier i

mr. gingrey. >> i thank you for yielding. want to address some of the questions that was as of counsel. we certainly appreciate the depth of his experience. those questions needed to be asked. as she points out, this is a very low -- very narrowly drawn amendment. it is applicable to section 931. let me repeat it. this amendment would prevent any federal employee or appointee to dictate how a medical provider practices medicine as a result of the development of best practices by the center for quality improvement. the bureaucrat could not use of best practices to dictate what a doctor could do. with that, i yield back. >> i yield back my time. >> mr. doyle? >> thank you. it is always amusing when you hear this argument that we do not want to let bureaucrats make these decisions for patients. like the current system is somehow letting patients making a decision. i love to see a poll of americans and ask them whether they like to see someone in washington with no profit motive make a decision on what it paid for purses a bean c