ms. schwartz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. . ms. schwartz: this is the largest deficit rededuction for a generation and improving access to quality of coverage to 95% of americans. this plan strengthens coverage and health care for all americans, including provisions i have fought hard for, prohibiting insurance companies from excluding coverage for pre-exist iing conditions, prohibiting dropping coverage when you get sick or -- ensuring that they use plain and easy to understand language so the consumers know what they are buying and compare their choices, allowing young add utilities to stay on -- adults to stay on their parents' policies, offering tax credits to small businesses to provide coverage to employees, eliminating co-payments for seniors and closing the medicare prescription drug benefit coverage -- the doughnut hole, making sure we close the doughnut hole, promoting the educational and research missions of our nation's teaching hospitals and academic centers. focusing on primary care by ensuring that americans, particul

ms. schwartz, no. mr. basari. mr. do fwchlt gift, no. mr. bluminau represent. no. mr. boyd, no. mr. rn, no. mr. etheridge, no. miss mccollum, no. mr. yarmouth, no. mr. andrews, no. ms. delawyer row, no. mr. edwards, no. mr. scott, no. mr. langivin, aye. mr. larsen, no. mr. bishop, no. ms. moore, no. mr. connelly, no. mr. schrad event r. mr. moore, no. mr. ryan, aye. mr. hencer link, aye. mr. garrett. mr. diaz, aye. mr. simpson, aye. mr. mchenry, aye. mr. mac, aye. mr. campbell, aye. mr. jordan, aye. ms. lummis, aye. mr. aderholt, aye. mr. nunez, aye. mr. harper, aye. mr. latta, aye. mr. spratt, no. >> are there additional members who wish to be recorded? if not, the clerk will announce the vote. >> on that vote, the ayes are >> the health care committee finished its work on health care monday when the committee passed a reconciliation bill. the measure now goes to the rules committee wednesday to set the parameters of debate for the house floor. for more information, visit c- span.org/healthcare. >> "washington journal" is next where we look at today's news and take your calls. we wi

ms. schwartz has one minute to close. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you know it's almost hard to figure out how to start here in one minute but let me just quickly say, we have been to bunning this bill for one year. most of those debates and hearings and votes have been on the air. and the legislation, and it is fairly long, it is complicated, but it is important. and sometimes something important takes a few pages to talk about. we always hoped there would be republican cooperation, but the fact is the republican alternative said those with preexisting conditions would go into high-risk pools and have to pay whatever they had to pay. several states have it now, provide some relief. it's not adequate. the fact is that our legislation moves ahead, and for the first time in this country, would say that all americans would have access to coverage whether they have a preexisting condition or not. they are immediately behind the school for adults, immediately insurance companies would be prohibitive from excluding children with preexisting conditions. thi

ms. schwartz: now is the time to act. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. does the gentlelady from ohio rise? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. schmidt: thank you, madam speaker. yesterday bloomberg reported what moodies has been saying all year. moodies once again reminded the united states that we are moving substantially closer to losing our triple-a credit rating doing -- due to the rising cost of our debt service. the u.s. will spend 7% of our revenue this year just on servicing our debt. by 2013, moodys estimates we will spend 11% of our revenue just to pay the interest on our national debt. this would be a higher percentage than every other top rated country. fortunately we can protect our credit rating by reining in run away spending and reducing our debt. but what does this president and democratically controlled congress do? they want to ram down a new huge entitlement program called the health care bill riddled with awful policy and budget gimmicks th

ms. schwartz. >> aye. [roll-call vote] [roll-call vote] >> yes. mr. mchenry changes vote to no. anyone who wishes to change hjis his boat? >> de klerk will announce. >-- the clerk will announce. the motion is not tagreed to. >> we are at 25 ayes and 11 no's. the motion is not agreed to. >> thank you. i wouldl ike t like to move wit- to dispense with reading of the amendment. it prevents the government from limiting the freedom of individuals and families to choose a health plan that best meets their needs. it would prohibit the federal government from controlling health plan choices or restricting competition among health plans. droplight town hall and i listened to some of you -- throughout the town halls, people in families and communities not only in wyoming but everywhere voiced frequent anxiety about his health reform effort because theiy are concerned that the federal government will interfere with choice of doctor or health plan. if you like your plan, you can keep it. frankly, this bill does not do that. neither the house bill nor the senate bill. i would think that the

schwartz myself from pennsylvania, ms. berkley, ms. woolsey, mr. al green, ms. titus, mr. defazio and ms. kaptur each for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, thele following members are recognized -- the following members are recognized for five minutes each. mr. poe from texas. the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: thank you, mr. speaker. at first al gore claimed to invent the internet. now looks like he really did invent something. global warming. the nation had one of the coldest winters in years including record snowfalls in the south. but the warmers like al gore ignore the obvious and still claim we're all going to perish, saying man is the threat to the planet. the groundhog is a better predictor of the weather than al gore. his long-winded article in the "the new york times" over the weekend was long on claims and short on facts. he didn't cite hard source -- sources for his information. like the rest of the global war

ms. schwartz: today we are on the road to passing health care reform.benefits all of us, families, seniors, businesses, taxpayers and our nation. this plan includes many vital provisions that strengthen health care for americans, provisions i have fought hard for. prohibiting insurance companies from excluding pre-existing condition coverage for children and adults. six months after reform is passed all children will be protected from these denials. strengthening primary care for seniors with a new focus for those with chronic diseases. seniors will no longer have to pay co-payments for preventive care and will have greater access to primary care doctors and nurses. and ensures that all insurance companies use plain, easy-to-understand language so consumers know what they're buying and can compare the choices. the status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. i urge a yes vote on health care reform. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina rise? mr. wilson: madam speaker, i request permission to address the house

ms. schwartz rises in opposition. you are recognized for 7:30. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your introduction. i appreciated your comments about those charts. let me say this motion is at best unnecessary. because we too -- we are concerned about bending the cost curve and what that really means is reduces the rate of growth and cost in coverage. this bill does it. we have gotten the cbo and even the senator from medicare and medicaid services to say that. they say this will reduce the rate of growth in health care spending. i'm happy to say it agree, this will reduce the rate of growth. and we have had had -- the cbo has said they expect the deficit to be reduced by health care reform by about over $100 billion in the first ten years and up to $1 trillion in the adding the decade after that. so this is definitely moving us in the right direction. and we're committed to do that. we are clearly working on health care reform, moving forward on health care reform because of the concerns of the american families and american businesses have. but part of that is red

ms. schwartz: families across our nation understand the status quo in health care is not working. they are calling upon us to pass uniquely american solution to ensure that all americans have access to meaningful, affordable health coverage, what is what this congress is committed to do. health care reform means commonsense consumer protections like whibt -- protections like whibt -- prohibiting insurers strengthening medicare for seniors which means closing but don't let all. improving quality in health care services and a challenge that faces all of us as taxpayers and users of health care services. this is not only paid for but it reduces the federal deficit by $100 billion. >> the ladies time has expired. >> now was that time to act. >> the ladies time has expired. for what reason does the the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. schmidt: thank you, madam speaker. yesterday bloomberg reported what moodies has been saying all year. moodies once again reminded the united states that we are moving substantially closer to losing our triple-a credit rating doing

ms. schwartz: thank you, madam speaker. democrats are committed to rebuilding america's economy. putting our workers back to work and ensuring our businesses can compete in a global 21st century economy. today we will vote on the small business and infrastructure job tax act which makes smart investments, including expanding build america bonds which have been used by state and local governments across the country, including 21 times in my own home state of pennsylvania to finance $2 billion in essential infrastructure projects. by excluding capital gains taxes on the sale of small business stocks. by exempting water and sewer facility bonds from state volume caps. initiating new water infrastructure projects which will improve the quality of our drinking water. and ending unfair tax policies for small businesses that offers certain pension plans. let's be clear. this bill means voting for lower taxes, for small businesses, for new infrastructure, and for new jobs. and it does not add to the deficit. in fact it is paid for by collecting taxes from corporations located in tax have

ms. schwartz: today we will act on a uniquely american solution to health care reform. our action will bring down health care costs for middle income families, will help small businesses afford coverage for their employees, will improve coverage for our seniors, will rein in wasteful spending and provide access to 32 million uninsured americans. for those with insurance starting right away, insurance companies will be prohibited from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions, from placing annual or lifetime caps on coverage and from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. it is time to put american families back in control of their health care. it's time to hold insurance companies accountable, to keep premiums down and to stop their denial of care and coverage. and it's time to ensure that 95% of americans have access to affordable, meaningful health care choices. it's time to file six medicare -- fix the medicare doughnut hole and provide seniors with preventative and primary care and it's time to rein in the federal deficit by reducing it by $1.2 mill