[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 76 (Monday, May 18, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H5694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE STEAMROLLER OF SOCIALISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, this week, the Energy and Commerce 
Committee will take up a bill that will put a huge tax on every single 
family in America--rich, poor and in between. It's going to hurt the 
people who can afford this tax the least--the poor, the retirees who 
are on a limited income. It has been estimated that this tax is going 
to increase the tax burden on every single family by over $3,000. Most 
families in this country can't afford to pay an extra $3,000 in taxes. 
Not only that, it is going to raise the cost of every single good and 
service in America. Food is going to go up. Medicine is going to go up. 
Health care insurance is going to go up. Everything in this country 
will go up because it's an attack on the energy producers and on the 
energy consumers in America.
  We have got to stop it. The American people need to understand what 
this is all about. It's not about cleaning up the environment. It's 
about creating more revenue for the Federal Government to grow a bigger 
Federal Government, a bigger socialistic government. We are taxing too 
much. We are spending too much. We are borrowing too much.
  What this will do is it will steal our grandchildren's future. It is 
immoral. The people who are promoting this should be ashamed of 
themselves. We've got to stop it, and the American people need to stand 
up and say ``no'' to this tax-and-trade. I call it tax-and-cap. A lot 
of people on our side call it cap-and-tax. It's about taxing. It's 
about more revenue for the Federal Government. It's about just taking 
money from people who cannot afford to give money to the Federal 
Government. It's about promoting an agenda that FDR followed during the 
Great Depression that extended deep into the recession and depression 
during that time. That is exactly what I believe is going to happen to 
our economy if we go down this road.
  We have a steamroller of socialism being driven by Nancy Pelosi and 
by Harry Reid, and it's being fueled by the administration and Barack 
Obama. The American people need to put a stop sign and speed bumps in 
the path of this steamroller. We see the federalization and the 
nationalization of the financial services industry. We see car 
dealerships being closed by this administration. That's 
unconstitutional. It has never been done in the history of this Nation, 
and we need to stop it.
  We see this administration and the Congress wanting to socialize 
health care, making a Washington-based health care system that is going 
to take away patients' choices. It's going to increase the cost of all 
health care. It's going to destroy the quality of health care in 
America. We've got to stop it, and it's up to the American people to do 
so by contacting their Members of Congress and saying ``no.'' We have 
to develop a grassfire of grass-roots support all over this country to 
say ``no'' to this steamroller of socialism.
  Former U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen at one time said, when he feels 
the heat, he sees the light. The American people need to put the heat 
on Members of Congress in the House and the Senate and say ``no'' to a 
Washington-based health care system. Say ``yes'' to a patient-based 
health care system that the Republicans and, in fact, in our office are 
generating. We need to change the health care financing system, but it 
needs to be patient-based, not Washington-based. It needs to be based 
on choice by patients where decisions are made within the doctor-
patient relationship, not made by some bureaucrat in Washington, DC.
  So we have got to put a stop to this. We are stealing our children's 
future. We are going to destroy what this country was built upon. This 
country was built upon a free market system, and we are taking over the 
free market system here in Washington and are making it all socialized, 
all Washington-based. So it's up to the American people to say ``no.'' 
I encourage you to contact your Congressman, your Senator and say 
``no'' to this cap-and-trade bill. Say ``no'' to socialized medicine 
and what is being promoted by the Democratic majority. Say ``no'' to 
this socialization of all of our market system.
  We've got a picture of exactly where we're going. All we've got to do 
is look in Venezuela. We are going down the same track that Venezuela 
is going down. We see the end results, too. We've got a clear picture 
of that. All we have to do is look at East Berlin during the time that 
the wall was there under Communist rule. All we have to do is look at 
Cuba today, and we see where this country is headed if we don't put a 
stop to it.
  It's up to the American people. So please, folks out there, say 
``no'' to this steamroller of socialism and ``yes'' to a free market 
solution to all of these problems so that we can build a stronger 
economy. We have to leave dollars in the hands of small businesses to 
create jobs and to buy inventory. That's what, as Republicans, we are 
proposing. So, please, American people. Say ``no'' to this steamroller 
of socialism.

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