[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 164 (Thursday, November 5, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H12434-H12435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE RALLY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Madam Speaker, an extraordinary thing happened here 
today, right out here down the hill. There were tens of thousands of 
people that came out on very short notice. They came out, and these 
were not the super wealthy. These weren't the Wall Street folks that if 
you will check, give four to one to Democrats over Republicans. These 
people didn't care about party at all. They were concerned about the 
America that they knew, an America where people were given a chance to 
succeed and a chance to fail. Because as people far more wise than I am 
have noted over the years, any government that can take away your 
chance to fail has taken away your chance to succeed.
  So people came out on very short notice. These were working people. 
You could see these were not people of leisure. These were people who 
had jobs, but they felt like this was something so critical they had to 
come, make their voices heard. You see them around offices all over the 
Capitol Hill area.

                              {time}  1900

  It was immensely moving. And the way the people all said the pledge 
to the flag at the start and honored the prayer as it was said to start 
the proceedings. And I don't know that I have ever heard a group sing 
the National Anthem with such fervor as a group. It was immensely 
touching because the people were up here to let their voices be heard 
and to let people know that the government does not need to take over 
18 percent of this country's economy. Haven't we messed up the car 
companies enough? Haven't we messed up the banks and the lenders and 
the housing market enough that we're not satisfied yet until we take 
over 18 percent of the world's economy and muck it up as well? Do we 
really have to meddle and take over that kind of thing?
  The role of the government should be as a referee, not as a player. 
We shouldn't be out there taking over businesses. You want to speed up 
the demise of a country, then let the government start becoming the 
player. Now, the Soviet Union was brutal enough and totalitarian 
enough. They were able to make a socialist form of government last for 
70 years, as a record. Extraordinary. But they were brutal and 
totalitarian enough, they could force it that far. We won't last that 
long, not when we've moved the government in charge of everything.
  Under the bill--I haven't gotten through the full bill, but I have 
seen some things that are staggering. I do remember hearing a number of 
our Nation's leaders saying that there was no way Federal dollars would 
be paying for abortion, so let me just read straight from page 110, 
subsection B, titled, Abortions for Which Public Funding is Allowed. 
And I'm reading the quote from page 110: The services described in this 
subparagraph are

[[Page H12435]]

abortions for which the expenditure of Federal funds appropriated for 
the Department of Health and Human Services is permitted.
  Then it goes on and says, Based on the laws in effect of the date 
that is 6 months before the beginning of the plan year involved--yeah, 
right--no money there will be used for abortions, and then there it is 
in black and white.
  We were told that if you liked your plan, you're going to get to keep 
it. And yet you could go over here--actually, that's an easy section to 
find. You're not going to be keeping it because it says here--and this 
is on page 91. This says, Protecting the Choice to Keep Current 
Coverage. The number one limitation on keeping your insurance, the 
individual health insurance issuer offering such coverage does not 
enroll any individual in such coverage. The second limitation is the 
issuer does not change any of its terms or conditions. Good grief. 
You're going to add beneficiaries to every policy, you're going to 
change terms and conditions. It turns out that wasn't true either.
  It is time to be true and faithful in this job to the American people 
and the job for which they sent us here. It is time to honor the 
Constitution.

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