ms. markey for what you're doing tomorrow in your legislation. ms. markey: i'd like to thank my colleague from california for sharing the personal stories of people you know who are unable to switch jobs because they will not be able to get health insurance. people who can't afford insurance or get health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. we've all heard stories about the auto industry, the most important part of making a car is the health insurance for the workers who put that vehicle together. that the most important line item expense for companies like starbucks is not coffee but health insurance. i saw that in my own businesses as well. my husband and i, every year, it was double-digit increases. every year we as small business owners had to cut back on how much we could afford to pay. we started out paying 80% of our employees' health insurance. we went down to 70%. now it's 60/40 because we can't foy aford to keep up. particularly in a global economy, where you're doing business overseas. your partners overseas don't have that enorm

ms. markey: i ask for an additional 30 seconds. mr. conyers: granted. ms. markey: the most egregious competitive claims such as making agreements, fixing price or reducing coverage are virtually always found under prosecution under the law. one has enjoyed an unfair advantage over another business in the united states. i don't think this has anything to do with being a republican or democrat. i think it has to deal with being fair. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: mr. speaker, i yield myself one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: mr. speaker, we've heard several speakers in the last few minutes say that there are only two industries exempted from the antitrust laws, insurance and baseball. this of course is not true. there are more than 20 such exemptions. if the intent is eliminating certain exempingses, perhaps they could eliminate the union antitrust exemption. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. conyers: m

ms. markey: you're right.e increases that families are experiencing right now are absolutely unsustainable. i was home in colorado last weekend and i spoke to one woman and had gotten an increase for her premium 35%. another small business owner in greeley told me he got a rate increase of 39%. how can you afford that? this is at the same time we are hearing on the news that the insurance industry as a whole has realized an over 50% increase in their profits in 2009 and 2008. and yet insurance premiums are going through the roof. now, this isn't anything new. we have seen the ford commission, antitrust commission recommend that congress take action on eliminating this exemption. prarb's modernization antitrust commission recommended that congress take action. and in 2007, republic can senator trent lot and democrat pat leahy got together and proposed legislation that was actually more sweeping than this that affected more parts of the insurance industry. at that time, senator lott t