latta: i rise in support of the tricare continuity of coverage for national guard and reserve families act of 2009, which i'm a co-sponsor as amended into the national defense authorization act. members of our national guard and reserves are eligible for tricare health insurance during their service and after the age of 60, but not during the time in between. time in between they retire until the age of 60 is referred to as the gay area. they are reserve component retirees under the age of 60 with more than 20 years of faithful service who have qualified retirement at age 60. the legislation fills in that gray area to ensure that these men and women have health care coverage and provides access to the care they deserve. this legislation is important because currently around 50% of those serving in iraq and afghanistan are reservists and national guard. and this option for purchasing tricare standard will serve as an incentive for those guardsmen and reservists to continue to serve. i thank the armed services committee chairman and ranking member for including this important legislation

furthering our commitment to our troops, the bill extends tricare eligibility to reserve members so they can receive full tricare coverage 1880 days before they go on active duty and provides almost $2 billion for family housing programs to expand and improve the quality of military housing. the bill authorizes the expansion of the size of the military by 15,000 army troops, 8,000 marines, over 14,500 air force personnel and approximately 2,500 sailors in the navy. i would like to thank the committee and distinguished chairman for including my request for funding, authorization for construction of a new permanent headquarters for the united states southern command that is located in the congressional district that i'm honored to represent. currently, the department of defense is leasing the land for socom from a private individual. the funds authorized by this bill will be used to build a new headquarters on land adjacent to the current location and leased from the state of florida. for the grand sum of $1 per year. this provision is extremely important to my community because socom pers

or new york they would get tricare. that is another issue that i am raising all the time. we are treated equally in wartime but not in peace time and especially the plight of our veterans across the country but especially in my case those that live in a puerto rico is something that is very close to my heart. but just denying those young men and women in uniform from puerto rico that may have served alongside use our that do not have the right to their commander in chief, just a mention of whether that is right, that is correct morally speaking in the 21st century in the freest in greatest country in the world. that's why i believe congress should act soon on h.r. 2499. >> host: independent line from alabama, good morning, how are you doing? >> host: good. >> caller: i am certain that puerto rico has been the of the same problems that the rest of the united states is suffering from and a lot of of it is simply core leadership. you know, you can't borrow the kind of money that they have borrowed can i just a couple minut

fortunately, this year, the subcommittee did not have to deal with the dramatic increases to tricare and premiums previously proposed by the department of defense. secretary gates has indicated a willingness to work with the committee to address the significant growth in military health care expenditures. and we need to work together, not only with the department of defense, but with those who represent our military personnel, retirees, survivors and their families to find a fair and equitable solution that protects our beneficiaries and ensures that the financial viability of the military health care system is real. some of the highlights of the bill include, a 3.4% pay raise, which is half of a percent higher than the president's budget request. those who are serving on the front lines every day have earned this pay raise. the bill also includes a number of initiatives that are focused on military families, such as tricare for reservists and families and allowance for members with combat-related catastrophic illnesses and injuries to receive assistance. the committee has taken more

in fact, we are going to be strengthening veterans benefits and tricare under the great leadership of the v.a. secretary. so, let the message be clear. before all the fear mongering and before all the misleading information begins. if you are serving our country, if you're wearing the uniform of our nation, your health care will be protected and strengthened under president obama's health care reform effort. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. critical to health care are reform is who has the power. currently the pair has the power. ask a medicare recipient if she has the power or the government agency which pays. ask a patient denied a procedure if he has the power or the insurance company which pays. reform must fix what's broken. what's broken is who has the power. real reform gives the patient the power. government already controls 50% of health care spending. by controll

i remained concerned that we weren't able to fund surviving spouses and allowing taxes to tricare for those who received early retirement. if this is to be the year of the military family, we must make it a priority to fund these programs, too. one of the few years where there is disagreement is detainee policy. these are differences that i believe need to be debated and given a vote within the full house. many members believe the american people do not want detainees in guantanamo brought to the sovereign territory of our country. i'm disappointed we will not debate amendments dealing with the transferor release of detainees from guantanamo bay, cuba, boo the united states. finally, i strongly agree with many members who believe that congress should do everything possible to ensure that the detainee pictures presently subject to the freedom of information act are not released. the president and our military commanders determined that these photos, if released, would risk the safety of u.s. forces in iraq and afghanistan. given the overwhelming support for this language in the senate,

medicare, medicaid, tricare, schip. these are the plans that don't call doctors their cost to see patients. every year, more cost is shifted to those who are trying to buy private health insurance. these are the plans that are trillions of dollars in debt. these are the plans that offer americans no choice. if you're retired, on medicare, you don't have a choice. that's the end game of every government plan. the last thing we need to do now is expand those plans that are in debt, that are not paying doctors enough to see patients, and basically take away all your choice. there's a common sense solution. you look at those americans who are uninsured. and i'm talking about americans. i'm not talking about illegals. i'm not talking about the folks who are sign up for medicaid and sign up for schip. we're talking about 20 million -- maybe between 20 and 25 million americans who need help. we don't need a multitrillion-dollar government takeover to make this happen. what we can do is we can take the tarp money, we can reclai

if they moved to georgia or florida or new york , they new givetricare -- they would get tricare. we are treated equally in wartime, but not peace time. the plight of our veterans across the country, but especially in my case, both live in puerto rico come as close to my heart. imagine the men and women in uniform from puerto rico who may have served alongside you, sir, who did not have a right to enact their commander in chief. just imagine whether it is correct, morally speaking, in the 21st century in the freest and greatest country of the world. that is why i think congress should react -- act soon. host: the next caller, republican line from alabama. caller: i'm certain puerto rico has many of the same problems the rest of the united states is suffering from, and a lot of that is simply poured leadership. you know, you can't borrow the amount of money they borrow and call that business as usual. actually the government does not create wealth, it only creates bureaucracy. those are not real jobs. make work -- like in prison, they just make jobs up for you. they last a little w

he rightfully says that this could impact on the va or tricare and, quite frankly, i want them to be able to make up their own minds about what they want to do. i think government entity is too broad and it could have a negative impact. i want to go to this term, rationing, it is a highly-charged, focus-driven word. we know why that word is being used because it's meant to scare people. it's meant to scare people about this health plan. it's meant to scare people about going to value efficacy informed patient-centered medicine, and quite frankly, rationing occurs every single day. the minute you have a pharmaceutical formulary, you are being told by your health insurance company what drug you can take and what drug you can't take, but often it is based on financial arrangements rather than on clinical evidence. what we are focusing on here is to be able to provide information for value-driven efficacy, for recommendations that would be based on value, efficacy and evidence to be able to inform. now i'm going to ask unanimous consent that the counteroffer that i propose which would sa

the part of health care that is working very well or the government plans and care, medicaid, tricare come schip, these are the plans that don't pay doctors the cost to see patients. so every year or cost is shifted to those who try to buy private health insurance. these are the plans that are trillions of dollars in debt and these are the plans that offer americans no choice. if you're retired on medicare, you don't have a choice. and that's the end game of every government plan. the last thing we need to do now is expand those plants that are in debt not paying doctors enough to see patients and basically take away all of your torso read as a common sense solution you look at those americans who are uninsured and i'm talking about americans, i'm not talking about illegals, i'm not talking about the folks who can sign up for medicaid and don't or sign up for schip, we are talking about 20 million may be between 20 or 25 million americans who need help. we don't need a multi trillion dollar government takeover to make this happen. we could do is we could take t.a.r.p. mauney which is