[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 110 (Tuesday, July 21, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H8451-H8455]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RECOGNIZING LATINO DIABETES AWARENESS MONTH

  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 69) recognizing the need to continue research into 
the causes, treatment, education, and an eventual cure for diabetes, 
and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                               H. Res. 69

       Whereas diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease caused by 
     the inability of the pancreas to produce insulin or to use 
     the insulin produced in the proper way;
       Whereas in the case of Type I diabetes or insulin-dependent 
     diabetes, formerly called juvenile-onset diabetes because it 
     tends to affect persons before the age of 20, the pancreas 
     makes almost no insulin;
       Whereas in the case of Type II diabetes or non-insulin-
     dependent diabetes, which comprises about 90 percent of all 
     cases of diabetes, the pancreas produces a reduced amount of 
     insulin or the cells do not respond to the insulin;
       Whereas this year 23.6 million Americans suffer from one 
     form or another of this disease, and 5.7 million people go 
     undiagnosed, commonly known as pre-diabetes;
       Whereas 2.0 million or 8.2 percent of all Latino Americans 
     aged twenty years or older have diabetes, and Latino 
     Americans are 1.5 times more likely to have diabetes than 
     non-Latino whites of similar age;
       Whereas Mexican-Americans, the largest Latino subgroup in 
     the United States, are more than twice as likely to have 
     diabetes as non-Latino whites of similar age;
       Whereas residents of Puerto Rico are 1.8 times more likely 
     to have diagnosed diabetes than United States non-Latino 
     whites;
       Whereas diabetes affects individuals in different ways, and 
     as a result, treatment programs will vary;
       Whereas diabetes in the Latino community can result in a 
     high prevalence of complications, such as foot problems and 
     amputations, kidney failure that may lead to chronic or end 
     stage renal disease, blindness, numbness and loss of 
     sensation in the legs, heart attacks and strokes, and 
     eventually death;
       Whereas individuals suffering from diabetes can reduce 
     their risk for complications if they are educated about their 
     disease; learn and practice the skills necessary to better 
     control their blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol 
     levels; exercise; and receive regular checkups;
       Whereas targeted health communications to the public are 
     vital in disseminating information about diabetes and the 
     need to live a healthy lifestyle;
       Whereas the Latino Diabetes Association, a nonprofit 
     organization devoted to aggressive diabetes education, has 
     worked tirelessly to raise funds for diabetes education and 
     to find the causes of and cure for diabetes; and
       Whereas the month of July of 2009 would be an appropriate 
     month to recognize Latino Diabetes Awareness Month in order 
     to educate Latino communities across the Nation about 
     diabetes and the need for research funding, accurate 
     diagnosis, and effective treatments: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the need to continue research into the 
     causes, treatment, education, and an eventual cure for 
     diabetes;
       (2) commends those hospitals, community clinics, 
     educational institutes, and other organizations that are--
       (A) working to increase awareness of diabetes; and
       (B) conducting research for methods to help patients and 
     families in the Latino community suffering from diabetes;
       (3) congratulates the work of the Latino Diabetes 
     Association for its great efforts to educate, support, and 
     provide hope for individuals and their families who suffer 
     from diabetes;
       (4) supports the designation of an appropriate month to 
     recognize ``Latino Diabetes Awareness Month''; and
       (5) calls upon the people of the United States to observe 
     the month with appropriate programs and activities.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Baca) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this 
legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  First, I would like to thank Majority Leader Hoyer, Chairman Waxman, 
Ranking Member Barton and Health Subcommittee Chair Pallone and, of 
course, my colleague from Louisiana, a good baseball player, for their 
support of this resolution. I also want to take the time to thank all 
my colleagues in the House of Representatives for their bipartisan 
support of this resolution.
  I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 69, the Latino 
Diabetes Awareness Resolution. The resolution recognizes the need to 
continue research into the causes, treatment, education and an eventual 
cure for diabetes and commends those organizations that are working to 
increase awareness of diabetes and conducting research for methods to 
help patients and families in Latino communities suffering from 
diabetes.
  It also congratulates the work of the Latino Diabetes Association for 
its great efforts to educate, support and provide hope for individuals 
and families who suffer from diabetes. The resolution also supports the 
designation of July 2009 as ``Latino Diabetes Awareness Month.'' It 
calls upon the people of the United States to observe the month with 
appropriate programs and activities.
  It is critical for the long-term sustainability of any health care 
reform plan to make sure that steps for the prevention of diseases, 
like diabetes, are encouraged by Congress. This prevention of disease 
would do a great deal in helping keep costs down for current patients, 
as well as favorably changing the attitudes and behavior of diabetes 
patients and their families, thereby improving their quality of life.
  We can take a good first step in achieving these goals by passing 
this resolution here today. Diabetes is a chronic disease of the 
pancreas and adversely affects its ability to produce and use insulin 
in the proper way.
  Diabetes has no cure, treatment varies from patient to patient, and 
it is quite often very painful. Some side effects of treatment include 
weight gain, skin rash or itching, various stomach problems, tiredness 
and dizziness, and swelling in the leg and ankle.
  The impact of diabetes is not focused solely on the patient; family 
members and immediate care takers also suffer greatly from the effects 
of diabetes on their loved ones. I say this from personal experience.
  In the Latino community, diabetes can result in high prevalence of 
foot problems, kidney failure, renal disease, blindness, heart attacks, 
strokes and eventually death.

                              {time}  1700

  What's scariest is that diabetes patients who need to take one or 
more insulin shots daily, and for whatever reason do not, greatly 
increase their risk of stroke and heart attack.
  One of the reasons I believe diabetes disproportionately affects the 
Latino community is the lack of sound health communication that speaks 
to those Hispanics who are most at risk of coming down with diabetes, 
or who already suffer from it. This means targeting communications 
efforts to both English- and Spanish-speaking communities and 
specifically referencing these efforts towards the area of our culture 
that puts us at risk the most: our diets.
  Over 23.6 million Americans suffer from diabetes, and of these, 2 
million are Latinos or of Latino descent; 8.6 of all Latinos over the 
age of 20 live with this disease. However, Latinos are almost twice as 
likely to have diabetes as non-Latino whites of similar age.

[[Page H8452]]

  Individuals suffering from diabetes can reduce their risk for 
complications if they are educated about their disease and take the 
proper steps to care for themselves. This means learning and practicing 
the skills necessary to better control their blood glucose, blood 
pressure and cholesterol levels. They must exercise and receive regular 
checkups, as well as maintain a healthy, balanced diet, as well as 
maintaining willingness to change these dangerous eating habits.
  And that becomes very difficult for a lot of us because we like our 
frijoles, our tortillas, our tamales, our enchiladas, our menudo; but 
we have to put that aside. This could include eating meals prepared 
healthier, eating more moderate portions, or a combination of these.
  Two people ought to be commended for their hard work in the attempts 
to educate the public about diabetes and treatments for patients, and 
that's actors Rita Torres and Edward Olmos. A few years ago, I worked 
with Rita Torres and Edward to help put together a short documentary 
highlighting the day-to-day lives of different diabetes patients, 
regardless of age or ethnicity, and they ought to be recognized for 
their tireless efforts to raise diabetes awareness.
  I have been affected personally by diabetes through the loss of five 
members of my immediate family. My father was a proud, hardworking man, 
never missed a day of work for any reason until he was struck down by 
diabetes and ultimately needed to have a leg amputated. It originally 
started with a toe, half a leg, and then the leg itself.
  My mother also was very strong, was never sick until she, too, came 
down with diabetes.
  My two brothers, Abelio and Tanny, and my sister Annie fought with 
diabetes but ultimately lost their battle largely due to lack of 
education and awareness of how the disease would affect their lives and 
not willing to change their eating habits.
  Tanny recently passed away due in part to the fact that he could no 
longer afford all the necessary treatment to keep his diabetes at bay. 
He is not only a victim of diabetes but of the high cost of health care 
as well.
  My brother-in-law, Ted Dominguez, was also a victim of diabetes. Ted 
was a great athlete back in his day, always in great physical shape. 
His lesson to us is that anyone, regardless of age, weight or physical 
condition, can get diabetes. He eventually went through dialysis and 
ultimately ended up losing his life.
  Also, a former staff member of mine who has been a close friend for 
many years, Daniel Hernandez, is a testament to us and to many other 
folks. He worked for me because he needed coverage for diabetes. He 
left my office after 2 years and became an independent consultant. He 
came back, however, and approached me one day and told me that the only 
reason he was willing to come back to work was to qualify for health 
care benefits that he would not be able to receive otherwise.
  It was their fight and their example that opened my eyes to the 
horrid realities and difficulties of this disease and the need for 
education and awareness about diabetes and ultimately to introduce this 
resolution.
  However, a great diabetes success story and a perfect example to 
prove that diabetes can be beat is Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia 
Sotomayor. Judge Sotomayor was diagnosed and has lived with type 1 
diabetes since the age of 8 years of age. Due to carefully monitoring 
her condition, she fought the disease head-on and continues to be a 
great example of someone who can live with diabetes. She will soon not 
only be the first Latina to become a Justice on the Supreme Court, but 
also the first Latina with type 1 diabetes.
  Another example of a remarkable type 1 diabetes patient is Sara 
Rodriguez. Sara is a constituent of mine, a rising junior at Rancho 
Cucamonga High School, a straight A student, and letter winner in 
basketball, volleyball, and track. In order for Sara to lead as normal 
a teenage life as possible, she must test her blood sugar levels eight 
to 20 times per day, every day. She will never outgrow her disease and 
will require care and medication for the rest of her life. She is a 
very brave and courageous young woman whose fight and determination 
should not only be an example to diabetes patients everywhere, but to 
anyone facing adversity.
  On behalf of all of the other young people like Sara Rodriguez, 
Congress recently reauthorized the special diabetes program. This is a 
wonderful example of the government's commitment to cure diabetes for 
people like Sara and the millions of others who live with the disease 
and its complications. This program funds $150 million a year in type 1 
diabetes research and is aligned with the goals of this resolution to 
keep us on the path towards a cure for diabetes.
  Yet another great example of a person living a healthy life with 
diabetes is Roque Martin, the grandfather of Matt Gomez, one of my 
interns, who has been instrumental in assisting with this resolution. 
Roque was diagnosed with diabetes over 25 years ago and continues to 
live a healthy life even at the age of 78. He eats rights and checks 
his blood sugar level three times a day and is a great example, along 
with Sara and Judge Sotomayor, for all diabetes patients that with 
proper care, diet and exercise, one can survive with diabetes.
  That is why it's so important to pass this resolution, which I 
introduced in the hopes of bringing awareness to those lucky enough to 
not have to face the disease firsthand, or through the fight of a loved 
one.
  It takes a small, but a critical, first step to help raise awareness 
about diabetes for not only the Latino community, but for all Americans 
and all individuals impacted with diabetes.
  But, also, it's a giant step for those individuals that have suffered 
from diabetes for many years and lack the ability to tell their stories 
firsthand, along with families and immediate caretakers of diabetes 
patients, who oftentimes suffer the impacts of the disease more so than 
the patient themselves.
  Diabetes is a disease that can, and does, affect anyone: Democrats, 
Republicans, black or white, Latinos, Asians, American Indians, all 
nationalities. The alarming statistics regarding diabetes are on the 
rise. With the greater scope of the health care debate, there is no 
better time to raise the awareness for a preventable disease than right 
now. And there is no better time than right now to stress that no 
diabetes patient should be denied health care coverage because of their 
preexisting condition.

  For these reasons, I ask you to stand with me and fight against 
diabetes and pass this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 69.
  I want to congratulate the gentleman from California on his 
leadership on this bill, building a bipartisan coalition to bring it to 
the floor under suspension. I want to recognize the 23.6 million 
Americans that suffer from diabetes. Diabetes can lead to serious 
complications and premature death, but people with diabetes can take 
steps to control the disease and lower the risk of complications.
  The Centers for Disease Control has stated that progression to 
diabetes among those with pre-diabetes is not inevitable and that 
studies have shown that people with pre-diabetes who lose weight and 
increase their physical activity can prevent or delay diabetes and 
return their blood glucose levels to normal. Through regular exercise 
and a steady diet, Americans can get to a healthier state of living and 
avoid diabetes, and that's what we're trying to raise awareness about.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend from 
Houston, Texas (Mr. Gene Green), also an outstanding basketball player.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. 
Res. 69, which recognizes the increased rates of diabetes in the 
Hispanic community and calls for increased research to combat and 
prevent the high rates of diabetes in Hispanics.
  And I want to thank my good friend Joe Baca for sponsoring this 
resolution and also for the compliment. I think you're the first person 
in history who ever said I was a good basketball player. Thank you, 
Joe.
  According to the Office of Minority Health, Mexican Americans are 
twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to be

[[Page H8453]]

diagnosed with diabetes by a physician. They have higher rates of end-
stage renal disease caused by diabetes, and they are 50 percent more 
likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.
  Mexican American adults are two times more likely than non-Hispanic 
white adults to have been diagnosed with diabetes by a physician. In 
2002, Hispanics were 1.5 times as likely to start treatment for end-
stage renal disease related to diabetes, compared to non-Hispanic white 
men. In 2005, Hispanics were 1.6 times as likely as non-Hispanic whites 
to die from diabetes.
  In our district, it is predominantly Hispanic. We have a large number 
of individuals with type 2 diabetes, which is often referred to as 
late-onset diabetes. Because of this, many individuals in our district 
have diabetes-related complications, including illnesses such as foot 
problems and amputations, kidney failure that may lead to chronic or 
end-stage renal disease, blindness, numbness and loss of sensation in 
the legs, and heart attacks and strokes.
  However, type 2 diabetes is preventable with a good diet and 
exercise. It is important we have targeted educational campaigns in the 
Hispanic community to help combat the diabetes epidemic.
  I would like to commend the Latino Diabetes Association and other 
diabetes research groups for their work in educating the Hispanic 
community on diabetes-related issues. Groups like these are crucial to 
the reduction of diabetes in the Hispanic community.
  I would also like to extend my support towards designating July 2009 
as Latino Diabetes Awareness Month to help raise awareness of the high 
rate of diabetes in Hispanics.
  Through education and prevention and wellness programs we can 
drastically reduce the number of Hispanic individuals with diabetes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. BACA. I yield the gentleman 30 additional seconds.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. This is probably the most important part, 
Mr. Speaker.
  That is why this Congress needs to pass comprehensive health care 
reform that covers everyone so we can deal with the diabetes epidemic 
in our Hispanic community, our African American community and also in 
our low-economic community, because we can deal with this if we push 
the envelope back to deal with it before it gets to be where people 
start losing their legs.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Broun).
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm a medical doctor. I've treated diabetes for 3\1/2\ 
or more decades. I congratulate my good friend Joe Baca for bringing 
this issue to the forefront because it is extremely important for all 
Americans, not just only the Latino community that he's focusing on 
here. I've seen many patients in my overall medical career that are 
Latino, as well as blacks and Caucasian and people from all ethnic 
groups. It affects everybody no matter who their forefathers, what 
their skin color is, and I congratulate Mr. Baca for bringing this 
forward.
  God tells us in Hosea 4:6, My people are destroyed for lack of 
knowledge. And as a medical doctor, I've tried to instill knowledge 
into my patients over the years, and this, of course, is what this 
resolution is all about, and I do congratulate the gentleman for 
bringing it forward because we do have a problem with people being 
knowledgeable about diabetes and the effect that it has upon them, 
their families, their longevity.
  Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the adult population. 
It leads to many health problems. It leads to heart attacks and 
strokes. It leads to peripheral vascular disease.
  As I sat here listening to Mr. Baca, I recalled an elderly black 
gentleman who came to see me as a patient that I diagnosed as having 
diabetes, and I started talking to him about diet and exercise and 
those types of things. Well, he didn't take care of himself, in spite 
of all my warnings and all of the consequences that he was headed 
towards. He wound up having a foot cut off, and he had that leg cut 
off. I kept talking to him. His blood sugar was continuing to be 
extremely high. Wound up having a second leg cut off, and eventually he 
had both arms and both legs removed, and he was sitting in a wheelchair 
when he finally got the message and started controlling his diet, 
taking his medications as prescribed, and we finally got his blood 
sugar in good control.
  That's a sad story. I've seen many, many patients over the years that 
have developed renal failure, which is what diabetes leads to. It leads 
to the nerves in people's legs dying so that they have no feeling in 
their legs so they can get cuts or even the simplest little puncture or 
a cut on their foot may lead to gangrene that leads to amputation, 
maybe even lead to what we call in medicine septicemia, which is where 
you have bacteria in your bloodstream, and it can go to your heart and 
it can affect the valves in your heart. Septicemia itself can lead to 
death, by itself.
  Diabetes afflicts many of our population, and it's sad that people 
don't have the knowledge of what that disease will lead to.

                              {time}  1715

  That's why I congratulate Mr. Baca for bringing this forward, and I 
do support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, when I was practicing medicine in rural south Georgia, I 
had a small automated lab in my office down there, and Congress passed 
a bill called the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act. My lab was 
totally automated. I had quality control to make sure that the results 
were absolutely accurate so that when I checked a patient's blood 
sugar, I would know what it was to know if they had the potential for 
prediabetes or whether they had frank diabetes. I would do a fasting 
blood sugar that would help me diagnosis their condition.
  Well, Congress passed CLIA, the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act, 
that closed my lab and every single doctor's lab in this country. 
Closed our labs. Eventually, I got my lab back up after I jumped 
through the hoops that were required by the legislation, by the 
regulatory burden placed on me and all doctors in this country.
  Prior to CLIA, a patient would come in and I would take a history and 
physical and would suspect that they may have diabetes. Some patients 
would get a family history of diabetes, and so I would do a screening 
test of a fasting blood sugar.
  I charged $10 for that test, Mr. Speaker. After CLIA shut me down, I 
had to send patients over to the hospital. The hospital was charging 
$35 for the same test. Once CLIA came along, it actually increased, and 
I got my lab opened back up, I had to charge $35, but the hospital, I 
think, went to $75 for the very same test.
  The point I want to make here is this regulatory burden on the health 
care industry markedly raised the price for that one test. What we see 
across the health care industry when government gets involved in health 
care decisions, such as it did with CLIA, it drives up the cost for all 
of us.
  As a physician who used to be a preferred provider for Medicare 
patients--I'm not now, for many reasons--but as a preferred provider, I 
could not see many patients, as I did previously, for free. Many, many 
patients, poor patients, people that had no insurance would come into 
my office, and I would see them for free. I have literally given away 
hundreds of thousands of dollars of free health care provision in my 
office; give free tests, free screening for diabetes, for many 
conditions. But under current Federal law, physicians who accept 
Medicare cannot do that. That makes no sense, Mr. Speaker.
  It is so today because of Federal regulation. Congress passed HIPPA, 
the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act. That has cost the 
health care industry billions of dollars and has not paid for the first 
aspirin to treat the headaches that it's created. And it was totally 
unneeded.
  Mr. Speaker, the point I'm trying to make is the American people need 
to know that the more the Federal Government gets into the health care 
business, the more regulatory burden is placed on physicians and 
hospitals, the higher the cost goes.
  In the non-stimulus bill we put a chunk of money, a huge chunk of 
money, for something called comparative effectiveness research. What 
I'd like my colleagues and the American

[[Page H8454]]

people to know, Mr. Speaker, is that this is a process put into place 
by the Democratic majority.
  This could have prevented those 78-year-old people that my friend Mr. 
Baca talked about from getting the care that they need because it is 
going to be deemed, as some Federal bureaucrat says, it's not effective 
comparatively to provide the dialysis for that 78-year-old that Mr. 
Baca was talking about. It's not going to be effective to try to 
prevent the blindness. It's not going to be effective to provide care 
to people who now are getting care. And we're going to have a 
tremendous denial or delay of services.
  I have said on this floor in Special Orders that this comprehensive 
health care bill that's being debated right now in committees and is 
going to be presented on this floor eventually--the Speaker wants to 
have it come up before we leave for the August recess--it's literally 
going to kill people.
  Now I have been chastised in the liberal media for making that claim, 
but it's going to kill people for this simple reason, Mr. Speaker. And 
the American people need to understand this. People are going to be 
denied services. They're going to have a marked delay in their being 
able to get the screening tests that they need for colon cancer or for 
evaluation of their chest pain or they're going to have a marked delay, 
as we see in Canada and Great Britain today, of being able to get their 
bypass surgery.
  So diabetic patients who have developed coronary artery disease and 
have angina pectoris and maybe even had a heart attack are going to 
have marked delay in being able to get the stints put in or their 
bypass surgery that they desperately need, and people are going to die.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. SCALISE. I yield 2 additional minutes to the gentleman from 
Georgia.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I have seen patients over and over again with 
these consequences of diabetes.
  Mr. Speaker, I've given away hundreds of thousands of dollars of my 
services over my career. I want people to have access to health care--
but they do today. EMTALA requires every emergency room in this country 
to evaluate and treat everybody who walks in. So the question of access 
is not a true question to debate today.
  We hear about 47 million people. The numbers keep growing by the 
Democratic side. The American people need to understand that a lot of 
those people are illegal aliens who have come here illegally. I 
understand why. They come here for work, for their families. And I feel 
for them. But they have still broken the law.
  American citizens are going to be denied treatment, denied x-rays, 
denied their coronary bypass surgery, denied their dialysis, and all 
these things because of this comprehensive health care plan that's 
being shoved down the throat of the American people. This is not the 
proper way of doing it.
  CBO just last week said it's not going to lower the cost of health 
care. CBO just last week said it's not going to put people in the 
insured category. CBO last week said it's going to cost at least 
750,000 jobs in America.
  The more government gets involved in the health care business, the 
higher the cost goes, the less efficient it is, and the Democratic plan 
is going to destroy the quality of health care.
  The American people, Mr. Speaker, need to stand up and say ``no,'' 
and say ``yes'' to a health care plan that makes sense, that lowers the 
cost of care for all Americans.
  Mr. BACA. First of all, I appreciate some of the comments that my 
colleague, the doctor from Georgia, ended up making. And it is about 
knowledge, education, and awareness, and it's about preventive, because 
preventive is really the key to saving money. Once you do the early 
detection, early prevention, then we could save a lot of lives on 
account of treatment, because in his statement he indicated many of the 
people that he treated--those are people that I recognize in terms of 
my own personal family that lack that kind of knowledge, that kind of 
awareness, and did not follow the doctor's orders in terms of what they 
should have been doing to preserve their life. That's why it's very 
important that we create this kind of legislation to recognize diabetes 
awareness for all America, because it impacts all of us.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCALISE. It's important that we continue working to find the 
causes and the treatments, education, and make sure that we are 
researching properly to find cures for diseases like diabetes.
  The broader question of health care reform--I think my friend from 
Georgia did a really good job of talking about the challenges and the 
concerns that so many over on this side have of this proposal that's 
before us. Not here in this bill, but being debated here in this 
Congress in these coming weeks, this week, last week, this proposal to 
have a government takeover of our health care system.
  I think it shows that while there are definitely ways to approach 
this in a bipartisan fashion, where there are many areas of health care 
reform that many of us agree need to be made to improve outcomes, to 
improve access, to focus on that narrow group of people who don't have 
access to care.
  I think the real danger is going down the road of a government 
takeover where government literally is interfering in the relationship 
between a doctor and their patient, as this bill would do, the bill 
that's been filed by the administration, by some of the members of this 
Democratic leadership.
  I think there's real problems, and we can only look at the neighbors 
that have gone down the same road. Look at Canada. Canada has a 
government-run health care system. Many people with the means from 
Canada come to America to get good care. The same thing in England.
  There was a tragic story in England, which has a government-run 
system. Just yesterday, there was a young man, a 22-year-old, who died 
because he was not allowed to get a liver transplant. ``He did not 
qualify for a donor liver under strict NHS rules.'' His own mother 
said, ``These rules are really unfair.''
  They have a government-run system that's very similar to the proposal 
that's being pushed by the President to have this government takeover 
of health care.
  We actually had an amendment in committee last night in the Energy 
and Commerce Committee that would have prohibited a government-run 
system from having a bureaucrat interfere in the relationship between a 
patient and their doctor. Unfortunately, our amendment was defeated.
  So clearly it shows that a government-run system would allow a 
doctor-patient relationship to be interfered with by a government 
bureaucrat here in Washington. That's not health care reform. That's 
rationing of health care.
  So we need to, hopefully, go back to the table and have a true 
bipartisan debate because there are many proposals that are on the 
table, bills that have been filed--I'm cosponsor of a number of them 
that actually address some of the problems that exist in health care--
to allow companies to pool together so they can get the same buying 
power as a small business, as a large business does; to allow 
individuals to buy insurance across State lines so they don't have to 
rely on their employer if they don't like their employer's plan; and 
then also open up and address those areas of waste, fraud, and abuse 
that exist. That's what we're concerned about.
  I do think it's very important that we raise awareness and education 
for diseases like diabetes. And I do want again to thank the gentleman 
with the ``good arm'' from California for his leadership on this issue 
because he has, I think, taken this issue and approached it in a good 
bipartisan way. Hopefully, we can do the same with the broader area of 
health care reform.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank both sides for 
bipartisan support on this resolution. I look forward to the strong 
support.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Baca) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 69.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.

[[Page H8455]]

  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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