[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 67 (Thursday, May 13, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2995-H2996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  IT IS TIME TO CHANGE THE STATUS QUO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, over the last generation, Congress has acted 
with good intentions; but it has resulted in bad consequences. We have 
developed, through policy here on the floor of the House over the past 
generation, policies that have driven jobs offshore. We have forced 
costs on employers that they are unable to control, and they do not 
even get a vote, and the result, a loss of jobs and a loss of the 
American dream for those who want those jobs and a successful career.
  I was speaking recently with the CEO of Raytheon Corporation in 
Wichita, Kansas; and we were talking about a wire harness shop. He had 
worked with his machinists union and tried to develop a way to keep 
that shop within the Raytheon Corporation. He realized after several 
tries that even if wages were at zero he would still be forced to move 
these jobs overseas in order to remain competitive. The reason these 
costs were driving jobs overseas was not because of the wages. It was 
because of the higher cost imposed by Congress over the last generation 
through their policies.
  I spoke with the CEO of Convergy. He told me that it was about the 
same to build a building in New Delhi or in Manila or in Wichita, 
Kansas. Overhead, in other words, is about the same around the globe.
  So if it is not wages and it is not overhead, Mr. Speaker, what is it 
that is driving up costs that CEOs have no control over and is forcing 
our jobs overseas? Well, we have looked at these costs, and we have 
decided it is time to change this environment that is keeping jobs from 
coming back to America. It is time we changed the status quo.
  We found out that these costs can be divided into eight separate 
categories, and we have developed eight issues; and for this week and 
the seven weeks that follow, we are going to attempt to change that 
environment, and I believe the change is coming.
  The first of these issues is health care security. These are costs 
that are driven by an increase of regulation, increase of lawsuits, 
increase of mismanagement from the Federal level; and the result has 
been a 12 percent increase in the growth of health care costs just this 
past year. This is now the sixth year where we have had double-digit 
growth in health care costs, and it has forced health care costs to 
double since 1999.
  It has raised the number of uninsured in America. So this week, we 
passed association health plans which allowed associations to gather 
together and lower their health care costs by bargaining with a larger 
number of people.
  We passed flexible savings accounts so that employees could save 
money for health care costs and become more involved in health care 
decisions and shop around for health care services, reducing the cost 
and increasing the number of people on the insured rolls.
  We also limited medical malpractice costs by medical malpractice 
reform. That alone will increase the number of insured by almost 4 
million Americans.
  We also found out there is a second issue, and one we are going to be 
addressing next week is the costs that are

[[Page H2996]]

associated with bureaucratic red tape. We are going to try to reduce 
the amount of bureaucratic red tape next week by dealing with OSHA, but 
we know now from reports from the National Association of Manufacturers 
that 12 percent of the cost of any manufactured item in America is due 
to the cost of paperwork compliance.
  The Kansas Hospital Association has told me that for every hour of 
health care they provide, they also have to have an hour to just comply 
with the paperwork. An hour of health care now equals an hour of 
paperwork compliance. If we could reduce that to just half, we would 
make our companies more competitive. That alone would help us bring 
jobs back to America.
  Our energy policy needs to be addressed. We now are facing $2 
gasoline in America, much of it driven by boutique gasolines demanded 
by the EPA. Blends that are designed for winter and summer in our 
limited number of refineries and limited number of pipelines cause 
temporary shortages and drive gas up. We should pass the energy bill 
that addresses and encourages ethanol and biodiesels, renewable 
resources that cannot only help lower the cost of energy but also raise 
the cost of commodities for farmers.
  We also need to produce more energy. If we could pass the energy 
bill, it would create 700,000 jobs in America. Our tax policy needs to 
be addressed, but it is buried into the cost of our products. The loaf 
of bread that costs a dollar is increased by 2 cents just by taxes.
  We also need to address lifelong learning, trade policy and 
litigation reform. We can change the status of these, status quo and 
bring jobs home.

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