[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 19, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H172-H173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 U.S. SENATE ELECTION IN MASSACHUSETTS

  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. Madam Speaker, in 8 minutes the polls will 
close in Massachusetts. I don't know whether Mr. Brown is going to win 
or whether he is going to lose, but one thing I do know is that this 
shows very clearly that the people across this country--moderate, 
liberal, conservative--are all concerned about what we're doing in this 
Chamber and the Chamber across the Capitol.
  You know, a lot of people will say, Well, it's all about health care. 
I don't think it's just health care. I think health care's a big part 
of it, Madam

[[Page H173]]

Speaker, but I think it's also the kind of chicanery that we're seeing 
going on right now.
  When you buy somebody's vote with $300 million in Louisiana and you 
buy somebody's vote in Nebraska, and then when the unions start 
squealing because they think they're going to be paying too much for 
health insurance, you give them a $60 billion tax break, break on their 
premiums, people across the country start saying, Hey, what's going on? 
Is anybody up there honest? You're buying votes with taxpayers' money. 
That $60 billion break that the unions are going to get is going to be 
made up in part from a new tax or an additional tax on prosthetic 
devices and wheelchairs. The people who really need help are going to 
have to pay higher taxes for those things because you're giving a $60 
billion break to the unions.
  So, Madam Speaker, I'm not going to talk for the whole 5 minutes 
tonight. I just want to make this point very, very clear, and I hope my 
colleagues back in their offices are listening as well. There is a 
message being sent to Members of Congress. There is a message being 
sent to the Senators across the Capitol, and it is that people want 
honest, fair government. They don't want a socialist government. They 
don't want the Congress controlling their lives. They don't want to 
have a bureaucrat between themselves and the doctors that they go see 
on a regular basis. In short, they don't want that health care bill, 
and they certainly don't want more taxes, and they certainly don't want 
Members of the Senate and the House being bought off by bribes that are 
being given to them by the leadership in order to get their vote on 
this health care bill.
  Regardless of what happens in, now, 6 minutes, I think that the 
people of this country have got the message. They don't want socialized 
medicine. They don't want more government control over their lives. So 
I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who may not be 
here right now, that they will take a hard look at the polling results 
and what happens tonight. Win, lose, or draw, it's going to show very 
clearly that an awful lot of Democrats, an awful lot of Independents as 
well as Republicans are very concerned about what's going on here in 
Washington.
  I hope that down the road my colleagues who have political goals in 
mind will take all this to heart when they start casting their vote on 
this health care bill when it comes back from the Senate.

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