[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H246-H247]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       DIFFERENT FEDERAL APPROACH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by offering the 
congratulations of myself and many others to Senator-elect Scott Brown 
of Massachusetts who had a very exciting victory yesterday. And I know 
that he will be a good Senator for the people of that State, but his 
victory means so much more to so many more people, not only the people 
of Massachusetts who are very excited today, but also people all across 
the country because they viewed the election of Senator Brown as an 
opportunity to send a message to this government, to this Congress, and 
to say to the Speaker of the House and the majority leader in the 
Senate and others that we need to take a different approach to health 
care reform and to the general direction of our Federal Government with 
regard to the out-of-control spending that we are experiencing here in 
Washington: last year's Federal deficit of $1.4 trillion and another 
$1.2 trillion projected for this year; in fact, for each year as far as 
the eye can see, deficits exceeding $600 billion a year as far out as 
we project them, 10 years from now.

                              {time}  1645

  At no time does this Congress offer a budget to the American people 
that would give them hope that we are going to get this problem under 
control. Instead, they have offered health care legislation that costs 
another, oh, some would say $800 billion. But the reality is that over 
10 years the real cost of this legislation is more like $2 trillion-
plus when you add in the fact that the taxes begin on this legislation 
sooner than the benefits begin.
  And cuts in Medicare are unreal at a time when we are going to see a 
dramatic increase in the number of people

[[Page H247]]

in this country who are eligible for Medicare, as the baby boomers 
start retiring this year, 2010, those born after World War II start 
retiring this year, and the number of people who are on Medicare and 
eligible for Medicare is going to skyrocket.
  With all of this going on, the message to this Congress, to the 
Democratic leadership in this Congress is you need to change course, 
change direction, and make sure that you are reflecting the will of the 
American people. But instead, the leadership doesn't get that message. 
Even today, as Senator-elect Brown prepares to come down here to be 
sworn into the United States Senate sometime in the next few days, the 
White House and Democratic Congressional leaders have once again 
retreated behind closed doors to make deals and finalize a single 
version of their government takeover of health care. That is not what 
the American people want.
  Speaker Pelosi said today, in response to the election results, 
``Clearly the election results last night spell out that we have not 
been as clear about our deficit reduction measures. And that will 
change.'' But the American people want to know what deficit reduction 
measures is she talking about when she continues, along with the other 
Democratic leaders here in the House and in the Senate and at the White 
House, to plot the expenditure of $2 trillion or more in additional 
expenditures over the next 10 years for a health care bill that robs 
Medicare recipients, that increases taxes, and will cost American jobs, 
that will do a whole host of things to regulate Americans' lives and 
how they will receive their health insurance, including mandating that 
they have to purchase health insurance whether or not they feel they 
want to, and telling them pretty much what that insurance is that they 
are going to have to purchase because of the fact that this health 
insurance will be regulated by a Federal Government health insurance 
commissioner, one of the more than 140 new Federal Government agencies 
and programs included under consideration in the bill that they are 
planning to try to move forward.
  That is simply not what the American people are looking for. They 
want responsible leadership. They want a bipartisan effort to deal with 
this challenge of rising costs of health insurance and health care. And 
they want bipartisan, responsible leadership in looking to ways to make 
health insurance and health care available to more people.
  The legislation they are considering doesn't do that. Instead, it 
busts the budget of our country. Yesterday's election results in 
Massachusetts calls for a new direction in health care and in that 
debate. Many believe the election of Senator Scott Brown lessens the 
likelihood of passage of the current proposal that has been crafted by 
Democratic leadership. If this is indeed the case, Democrats and 
Republicans must work together toward health care reform that reduces 
costs and expands insurance coverage without reducing costs or adding 
to the national debt, rationing care, or putting the Federal Government 
between the patient and their doctor.
  One such bill to consider is H.R. 3970, the Medical Rights and Reform 
Act, of which I am a cosponsor. The Medical Rights and Reform Act 
includes fiscally responsible health care reforms like medical 
liability reform, small business insurance pooling, and letting 
families and businesses buy insurance across state lines. These are 
ideas at that have strong bipartisan support, but have been absent from 
the bicameral health care negotiations. Most important, the Medical 
Rights and Reform Act is fiscally responsible. This alternative does 
not raise taxes, cut Medicare, or add to the deficit. And it lowers 
health care costs.
  This Congress already gave us a $1.8 trillion debt. America cannot 
afford to spend another trillion dollars or $2 trillion as proposed by 
the majority, and our families cannot afford to put life and death 
decisions in the hands of bureaucrats.
  Mr. Speaker, resetting the health care debate and working together in 
an open and transparent way would help Washington regain the public's 
trust.

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