[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H6128-H6129]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  FREEDOMS AND QUALITY OF LIFE ARE BEING THREATENED RIGHT HERE AT HOME

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, the freedoms and the quality of 
life of Americans is being threatened right here at home not 
necessarily just by those outside the country but here at home. And I 
want to tell you why tonight. We're talking about a socialized approach 
to medicine called national health care that's going to cost billions 
and billions and probably trillions of dollars. It will take away from 
people their right to pick their own doctor in many cases; and it will 
cause the rationing of health care, which will put people, particularly 
seniors, at the back of the line when it comes to very important things 
that have to be done to them to keep them alive and healthy. It's going 
to cost trillions of dollars; and in the budget that we passed earlier, 
this last month, they put $635 billion in there as a down payment, the 
first tranche, on socialized medicine which will take away a lot of the 
freedoms that people have in choosing their own doctor and getting 
qualified health care.
  The second thing that is being threatened is the control of our 
financial institutions. We passed a TARP bill that bailed out a lot of 
Wall Street companies and banks. And because of that, a lot of those 
financial institutions are now directly or indirectly controlled by the 
Federal Government. I don't think the American people want that. They 
don't want socialism in this country. They don't want a government-
controlled economy or financial institutions.
  So we have national health care that is going to be controlled by the 
government. They don't do a very good job of controlling other things 
in this country, as many of us know, but national health care and now 
financial institutions. And then next we have the automobile industry. 
The government just acquired 61 percent of the control of

[[Page H6129]]

General Motors, which we should be calling I guess now Government 
Motors or Obama Motors because it is, in effect, controlled by the 
government even though the President said that he really didn't want to 
control the auto industry. In fact, that's what's being done.
  Finally, we're talking about the energy section of our economy. We 
have a bill that's come out of committee that's going to be on the 
floor before too long called cap-and-trade. It's going to cost every 
single family in America between $3,000 to $4,000 in additional 
expenditures for electricity, additional taxes on gasoline that's 
passed on to them and other forms of energy because of CO2 
emissions. Now we have a terribly difficult economy right now. Can you 
imagine the average family, having to load on their backs an additional 
$3,000 to $4,000 in expenses for energy every time you turn on a light 
switch or anything else? But that's a fact. It's going to happen if 
that bill becomes law.
  In addition to that, we're going to lose millions of jobs because 
China has already said they would not comply with the same 
environmental standards we're talking about and neither would India or 
many other countries in the world that are competitors of ours. So they 
won't have to pay for those costs that the American people are going to 
have to pay for, that American industry is going to have to pay for. So 
those jobs will be going overseas, millions of them, because we're 
loading on the backs of individuals and American industry additional 
taxes and expenses that our competitors around the world will not have 
to pay. So when they make a car, a truck or a refrigerator, they'll be 
able to do it with less expense because they don't have to live up to 
the same environmental standards that we do.
  This is a very difficult time for America. We're losing jobs. We see 
people suffering all across this country. But I'm concerned not only 
about today, but I'm concerned about tomorrow. We don't want to see 
this governmental structure that we hold so dear and the freedoms we 
hold so dear go right out the window, and that's what's happening today 
right before our very eyes. We see the government taking over the 
health care industry, the financial institutions, the automobile 
industry; and now they're going to try to take over the energy industry 
as well.
  I hope my friends across this country and my colleagues are paying 
attention because this government is turning very rapidly toward a 
controlled economy which is called socialism, and that's anathema to 
this country and should be anathema to every single American.

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