[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 162 (Tuesday, November 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H12228]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1530
                              HEALTH CARE

  (Mr. BISHOP of Utah asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. A Supreme Court Justice once wrote; ``The 
Constitution protects us from our own best intentions. It divides power 
precisely so that we may resist the temptation to concentrate power in 
one location as an expedient solution to the crisis of the day.'' Now, 
he wasn't talking specifically about the health care bill, but there 
has never been an effort to try and concentrate power as an expedient 
solution to the crisis of the day as the Pelosi health care bill.
  We are not the only ones working on this issue; States are as well. 
Massachusetts has a system, it's pricey, but they seem to enjoy it, but 
it wouldn't meet the needs of Utah. Utah has a reformed system that's 
based on our demographics. It wouldn't fly in Boston. The problem is, 
if the Pelosi bill were to pass, all of these State efforts would be 
stopped.
  There are things we can do to help the costs come down: Tort reform, 
allowing interstate competition and block grants to States for high-
risk pooling. Those things would be good if indeed we were allowed to 
do them, but they're not part of the Pelosi bill. All this does is 
concentrate power in Washington and would, to paraphrase P.J. O'Rourke, 
have the same effect as giving alcohol and the keys to the car to a 
teenage boy.

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