[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 42 (Saturday, March 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H1773-H1778]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA
Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to
the resolution (H. Res. 1099) recognizing the 65th anniversary of the
Battle of Iwo Jima, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The text of the resolution is as follows:
H. Res. 1099
Whereas 2010 marks the 65th anniversary of the Battle of
Iwo Jima, in which the United States Marine Corps, directly
supported by the United States Navy and elements of the
United States Army, captured the island of Iwo Jima during
World War II;
Whereas the Battle of Iwo Jima lasted from February 19 to
March 26, 1945, and was among the most bitter battles in the
history of the Marine Corps;
Whereas more than 70,000 Marines participated in the Battle
of Iwo Jima;
Whereas 22 Marines, 4 Navy corpsmen, and 1 Navy landing
craft commander received
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the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor in action
against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an
individual serving in the United States Armed Forces, for
their service during the Battle of Iwo Jima;
Whereas half of the awards issued to Marines and Navy
corpsmen of the 5th Amphibious Corps were posthumous awards;
Whereas awards for service during the Battle of Iwo Jima
represented more than one-fourth of the 80 Medals of Honor
awarded Marines during World War II;
Whereas, in recognition of the particularly treacherous
conditions experienced by Marines, sailors, and soldiers
during the Battle of Iwo Jima, Commander in Chief of the
Pacific Fleet, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz stated,
``Among the Americans who fought on Iwo island, uncommon
valor was a common virtue'';
Whereas the raising of the American flag over Mount
Suribachi on February 23, 1945, was witnessed by many Marines
all over Iwo Jima and the ships at sea and, upon witnessing
the sight, Navy Secretary James Vincent Forrestal said, ``The
raising of that flag means a Marine Corps for another five
hundred years'';
Whereas Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph
of the 5 Marines and 1 Navy corpsman raising the American
flag over Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima
produced an iconic and lasting symbol of the courage and
determination that helped achieve victory for the United
States Armed Forces during World War II;
Whereas the Battle of Iwo Jima was a military victory
critical to the assault on Japan, providing a base for
American fighter escorts and a way station for bombers
raiding Japan;
Whereas the United States success in capturing Iwo Jima was
a crucial victory that led to the eventual triumph in the
Pacific Theatre during World War II; and
Whereas over 17,000 Marines were wounded and almost 6,000
Marines made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives for
their country in the Battle of Iwo Jima: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo
Jima; and
(2) recognizes and commends all members of the United
States Armed Forces who participated in the Battle of Iwo
Jima for their service and sacrifice, with particular honor
and gratitude given to those gallant Americans who gave their
lives in defense of the United States and of freedom during
the Battle of Iwo Jima.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Owens) and the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.
General Leave
Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
on the resolution under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from New York?
There was no objection.
Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today in support of House Resolution 1099, recognizing the
65th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima. I would like to thank my
colleague from Iowa (Mr. Braley) for putting this resolution together.
Madam Speaker, I don't know if you have ever been to the Marine Corps
Memorial that sits nearby off Arlington Boulevard and George Washington
Parkway atop a knoll overlooking all of the memorials on The Mall, the
Washington Monument, and this Capitol building. If you haven't, I
highly recommend going for a thoughtful visit. The memorial is a
larger-than-life statute depicting one of the most famous images
generated during World War II--Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize-winning
photograph of the five marines and one Navy corpsman raising the
American flag over Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iowa Jima. At
daybreak, the sun rises over the Capitol, illuminating monuments to
America's history of perseverance for freedom. I can think of no better
backdrop to this monument than that for which these brave men and women
fought--the capital of the free world.
The battle of Iwo Jima lasted from February 19 to March 26, 1945, and
was among the most bitter battles in the history of the Marine Corps.
Over 70,000 participated, nearly a quarter of those were wounded, and
almost 6,000 marines made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their last
measure for America in this famous battle. And while the Marines
suffered the most casualties in this confrontation, by far, this effort
was directly supported by the Navy, which suffered roughly 2,800
casualties, and elements of the Army, which suffered 37 casualties.
Madam Speaker, 22 marines, 4 Navy corpsmen, and 1 Navy landing craft
commander received the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor in
action against an enemy force which can be bestowed on an individual
suffering in the United States Armed Forces, for their service during
the Battle of Iwo Jima. It was Admiral Nimitz who stated, ``Among
Americans who fought on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common
virtue.'' It is hard to imagine or even truly understand what that
experience must have been like.
The Battle of Iwo Jima was a military victory critical to the assault
on Japan, which led to the eventual triumph in the Pacific Theatre
during World War II. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to recognize and
commend all members of the United States Armed Forces participating in
the Battle of Iwo Jima for their service and sacrifice, with particular
honor and gratitude given to those gallant Americans who gave their
lives in defense of the United States and freedom, by voting in favor
of House Resolution 1099.
If any of my colleagues haven't had the opportunity yet, I recommend
that they stand at dawn, or during one of the Marine Corps Tuesday
Sunset Parades, and reflect upon the Battle of Iwo Jima and the
sacrifices our servicemembers have made during all of America's wars to
protect the freedoms we enjoy this very moment.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAMBORN. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution
1099, as amended. This resolution recognizes the 65th anniversary of
the Battle of Iwo Jima. I want to commend the sponsor of this
resolution, Representative Bruce Braley of Iowa, for introducing it.
The Battle of Iwo Jima in February and March of 1945 has become a
symbol of the devotion to duty and valor of all the men who fought
there. For marines especially, the action then of five marines and one
Navy corpsman raising the U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi, as captured in
the iconic photo, is now the standard by which all marines measure
themselves. Every marine and many others as well, when viewing that
image, are almost compelled to ask: Could I do the same thing? Would I
measure up?
By any standard of measure, the Battle of Iwo Jima ranks as one of
the most violent and savage in the history of the Marine Corps. The
Marines, the Navy, and the Army personnel who fought the battle
prevailed because, as Admiral Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific
Fleet at the time, said, ``uncommon valor was a common virtue.''
Today, many of those men who won that victory are now gone. Our
memory of and tribute to their valor and devotion to duty, however,
remain. It is for that reason that we recognize the 65th anniversary of
the Battle of Iwo Jima and commend all who served in it.
I urge all Members to support this most worthy bill.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. OWENS. I yield such time as he may consume to my friend and
colleague and the sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman from Iowa
(Mr. Braley).
Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank
my colleague from Colorado for his kind remarks.
Madam Speaker, the photograph to my immediate right is what most
people think of when they think of the Battle of Iwo Jima. It is the
most famous photograph in the world. It was taken by Joe Rosenthal. It
was not a staged photograph. It was taken while the second flag was
raised on Mount Suribachi. What most people don't know is the rest of
the story behind that flag raising.
This is a photograph that was taken on the summit of Mount Suribachi
that's commonly referred to as the ``gung-ho'' photograph. It depicts
the unit, the platoon, that was the first to reach the summit of Mount
Suribachi and raise the first flag.
One thing that's important about this photograph is you can actually
see the faces of the marines who made that heroic sacrifice. You cannot
see the faces of anybody in the Joe Rosenthal photograph, and that was
something
[[Page H1775]]
that bothered Joe Rosenthal when he saw his photograph weeks after he
took it, because in the heat of the battle, that film was sent to be
processed away from Iwo Jima and was published and released in
newspapers across the United States. It instantly became the most
popular symbol of the struggle in the Pacific.
Now, this photograph is especially important to me because shown
right here in this photograph is a young man named Harold Keller, who
was a corporal in the Marine Corps from my hometown of Brooklyn, Iowa.
Harold Keller was one of those uncommon heroes that nobody knew
anything about after he came home, but he was the second marine to
reach the summit of Mount Suribachi. He slept that night under the flag
that was erected on top. And while he and his buddy Chick Robeson slept
under the flag, buzz bombs and mortars came in toward that flag,
because it was the subject of great debate and competition between the
Americans and the Japanese.
{time} 1700
Harold Keller was remarkable for many other things that happened in
this very brief period on an island that was so small, it was less than
10 square miles, and yet 30,000 Japanese soldiers and 70,000 marines
and Navy corpsmen occupied that tiny island during this incredibly
intense struggle. When Harold Keller first landed on the beach on D-
day, February 19, 1945, the first thing he did was save his commanding
officer, Lieutenant Keith Wells, who stuck his head up above the berm
of that sandy beach and would have had his head blown off had it not
been for Harold Keller, who pulled him down as a large piece of
shrapnel soared right over where he had been.
He was also friends with Ernest ``Boots'' Thomas, who was the marine
who carried the first flag to the summit and was called down to go on
national radio and talk about the historic moment when that flag was
unfurled over Mount Suribachi. When Harold Keller was walking up Mount
Suribachi with his unit, he saw two stretchers being carried up to the
summit, and his comment tells a lot about what they were facing. He
told a friend of his, ``We'll probably need a hell of a lot more than
that.'' He saved the life of one of his colleagues, Robert Leader, who
was later, after the flag was raised, wounded by mortar fire. Harold
Keller came upon him, did a field dressing as he found him with his
bowels laying outside his body, saved his life, and sent him home,
where he became an art professor and gifted artist at the University of
Notre Dame.
These are things that are stories behind the flag raising and why
this is so important. Another reason this photograph is important to me
is, as you look over the shoulders of these marines, you can see the
beach down below, and you can see some of the landing craft. One of
those landing craft was LST-808 which dropped my father off on Green
Beach in Iwo Jima the same day these flags were raised, and you can see
LST-808 down below.
My father was 17 years old, Byard Braley, when he enlisted in the
Marine Corps after getting his mother's permission, and he was 18 when
he landed on Iwo Jima. He served in the Corps Artillery in the
headquarters and service battery of the Fourth 155th Howitzer
Battalion, which was commanded by Colonel John Letcher. One of the
things John Letcher did was he wrote a book about his experience in the
Marine Corps called ``One Marine's Story,'' and this is how he
described his first night on Iwo Jima at the Corps Artillery
headquarters:
``I had been asleep for perhaps an hour when a shell burst which
seemed to be right outside the tent. It was followed in rapid
succession by others. The shells were bursting in the air a few feet
above the ground and were spraying fragments in every direction. The
command post area seemed to be their target, and they were making a hit
with every shell. Most of our personnel must have been poorly dug in,
just as I was, because mingled with the noise of the shell bursts, I
heard screams and cries of wounded men. I was trembling uncontrollably
and found myself reciting the Apostles' Creed.''
Thirty-five men in my father's unit were killed and wounded during
that barrage, and it was something that he carried with him every day
of his life until he died 29 years ago. One of the things that we know
about the people who served on Iwo Jima is that the ones who were
fortunate enough to come home, like my father and Harold Keller, never
considered themselves heroes. They considered the heroes their fallen
comrades who were buried on that island in the Third, Fourth and Fifth
Marine Division cemeteries. And this photo, Madam Speaker, shows the
lines of crosses and Stars of David in the Fifth Marine Division
Cemetery, with Mount Suribachi in the background.
Probably one of the most compelling cemetery dedications given since
the Gettysburg Address was delivered by Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn at the
dedication of the Fifth Marine Division Cemetery, and I want you to
listen to his powerful words, which we should hear today just as
powerfully as when he delivered them. Here is what he said about these
fallen comrades:
``Our poor power of speech can add nothing to what these men have
already done. All that we even hope to do is follow their example. To
show the same selfless courage in peace that they did in war . . .
These men have done their jobs well. They have paid the ghastly price
of freedom . . . We dedicate ourselves, first, to live together in
peace the way they fought and are buried in this war . . . Here lie
officers and men, Negroes and Whites, rich men and poor--together. Here
no man prefers another because of his faith or despises him because of
his color. Here there are no quotas of how many from each group are
admitted or allowed. Among these men there is no discrimination, no
prejudices, no hatred. Theirs is the highest and purest democracy.''
Madam Speaker, these are the reasons why we gather here today to
honor this historic battle, to remember the sacrifice of the most
severe battle in Marine Corps history, where one-quarter of the Medals
of Honor were awarded in World War II during this one battle. That's
why I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and remember, we
must never forget.
Mr. LAMBORN. Madam Speaker, I just want to thank my colleague and
friend from Iowa again for bringing this resolution. I had the great
privilege of standing on Iwo Jima a year ago when some of us on the
Armed Services Committee were going to Okinawa to review the Marine
transfer that may take place to Guam. The whole island is sacred
territory. We were able to bring back samples of the black volcanic
sand from the beach right below Mount Suribachi. I have that in my
office. We stood on the top of Mount Suribachi. There is a wonderful
memorial there right now. It's very touching and very moving for all
the reasons that Representative Braley has highlighted. Thank you again
for bringing this resolution, and I urge all of my colleagues to
support it.
Madam Speaker, at this point I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from
California, Representative Herger.
Mr. HERGER. Madam Speaker, the American people could not be more
clear. They want to fix the problems with our health care system, but
they do not want the Democrats' government takeover of health care.
It's time to stop the backroom deals and bring transparency to this
debate. On a bill that rewrites one-sixth of our economy, adds $1
trillion to the Federal budget, and affects every American's health
care, Members of Congress should stand up and be counted. I call on
Speaker Pelosi to grant Republicans' requests for a call of the House
so Americans can watch at home and can see and hear how their
Representative is voting.
Mr. OWENS. I will continue to reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAMBORN. Madam Speaker, at this point I yield such time as he may
consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer).
Mr. BUYER. I would like to thank both parties for recognizing the
uncommon virtue and valor. It didn't occur just at Iwo Jima. It
occurred in many battlefields and lonely places all over the world.
These are military values and virtues which are passed from one
generation to the next. They are memorialized, and we've done that here
in the Nation's Capital in Arlington by that extraordinary photo that
was then transformed into that statue.
The art of man is able to construct monuments and awards that are far
[[Page H1776]]
more significant than the narrow span of our own existence. It's the
silent lapse of time that displays how frail and how fallible we are as
a people. So it truly is what we do with the time that we have that
matters most. So those of us with whom we've had the privilege to wear
the uniform and fight our Nation's wars and to serve on foreign soil, I
can tell you having done that, that it is an extraordinary feeling.
Now for the men and women, the nurses and the men who were in the
dark sands of Iwo Jima, what an extraordinary campaign, and we have
done everything we can to fulfill their ideal. At times, we fall short.
We fall short as a people when we don't fulfill the ideal of their
sacrifice; that is, the preservation of freedom and the preservation of
individual liberty. And we have to be careful here in the institution
of Congress if we don't respect each other with regard to our opinions,
with regard to the process, because liberty also in the democratic
process is pretty important.
So we have this debate on the health bill. We shouldn't try to
scheme. We should be open. This should be the most open and
deliberative body in the world so that Lady Liberty that sits on top of
the dome can truly shine as that beacon of liberty so that the
sacrifices of those marines and the sailors and others at Iwo Jima can
live forever. The men and women who wear the uniform, they fight for no
bounty of their own, and they leave freedom in their footsteps. They
are truly extraordinary people. They also go to a land where they've
never been, and they fight for a people that they've never met because
they fight for extraordinary ideals. So those sacrifices that occurred
on Iwo Jima have been passed on to other generations, those of whom
fought in Korea or in Vietnam, in the sands of the first gulf war or
even the second gulf war and Afghanistan.
So those of us who inherit the freedoms and those ideals, we are
merely trustees for life, and our duty is to concentrate our lives to
the greater good, beset by recurrent hopes for a more peaceful and
prosperous Union. To do otherwise would be selfish as a people, and it
would be wrong to turn to the next generation and say that we did not
improve upon it, and we would then not be able to uphold the men, like
at Iwo Jima, who did so much for so many.
Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. LAMBORN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Once again, I commend our fighting forces for their service to this
country and to the cause of freedom. The freedom they worked and fought
for is embodied in the constitutional system we enjoy in this country.
Few votes that we have taken in this body will affect our
constitutional system of freedom more than the vote that we take
tomorrow on health care. And I would like to show, Madam Speaker, the
bills that we have in front of us and the--I think--short time that
we've unfortunately had to review them.
Sitting here are the various bills from the House and Senate, the
reconciled version, and the committee reports. These total more than
6,200 pages. We've had a brief 72 hours to review these materials by
the time our vote rolls around, projected for tomorrow afternoon. That
is simply not the way we should do business in the people's House.
If we take 72 hours and subtract 8 hours a day for sleeping so you
don't get burnt out completely, in that remaining 48 hours, you could
read about two pages a minute if you read from morning until night, and
then you would get through these 6,000 pages. You probably couldn't
look up very many of the citations, though. That slows you down a bit
further. But this is what we are faced with when we have our vote
tomorrow.
{time} 1715
I think we really should have a different and better process, and the
American people deserve better.
Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr.
Westmoreland).
Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend for the
time, and I want to also thank Mr. Braley for bringing this resolution
and what it means to the men and women who served in our military and
especially those who fought so bravely at Iwo Jima.
As I was walking across today to the Longworth Office Building, Madam
Speaker, I ran into several veterans out in the crowd. They were asking
me about the health care vote that we are going to have tomorrow and
about other situations that are going on in our government, and a lot
of them asked me, said, You know, I served my country and I didn't
expect to have this type of treatment or to have this forced on me or
my children or my grandchildren.
One of the interesting facts is that the Senate bill, the Senate bill
that is going to be passed in this House tomorrow, that passed in the
Senate, evidently had some things in it that maybe people didn't
understand.
Chairman Skelton brought a bill to the floor today to make sure that
TRICARE is looked at as an acceptable insurance program. TRICARE, the
thing that we give our veterans that serve so faithfully in our
military, TRICARE was not even going to be looked at as one of the
acceptable insurance programs. We were fixing to strip them of that.
And those veterans on the street just could not understand that
concept, how that could have gotten by 60 people in the Senate, that
evidently didn't know it was in there or didn't care about those
veterans that had served our country so bravely.
And, you know, earlier today we had a bill on the floor, a motion to
recommit that bill, and I believe there were 178 people that voted
``no'' originally, and then the votes started changing. And I think it
ended up with 39 ``no'' votes, Madam Speaker, after all of the changes
from 170-something down to 39, and it was only a 3-page bill. Now our
side certainly--and I am sure the gentlewoman from Wyoming wasn't
trying to trick anybody--it was a 3-page bill, very plainly written;
but, evidently, nobody had read it and so everybody voted against it.
And all of a sudden it started getting around what was in it, about
sexual predators being allowed to be in this volunteer group to look
after our forest land. So the next thing you know, 140 people are down
here changing their vote on a 3-page bill.
Can you imagine what is in a 2,700-page bill that Members of this
House have not read? We are going to suffer some unintended
consequences. And probably those that are going to feel the greatest
loss of those unintended consequences are the brave men and women who
have served so faithfully and defended this country and fought for our
rights and for our freedoms. And we are fixing to pass legislation that
I would venture to say that nobody in this House has read and
completely understands.
Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I would like to respond to the comments
about the bill and the inability to comprehend it in a short period of
time.
I am relatively new to Congress. The Senate bill has been available,
I think, for better than 80 days. This sounds more like a college or
high school student saying I had to stay up all night and cram because
I didn't study during the semester.
There was adequate time for everyone in the House to read the Senate
bill. I certainly did. I read the reconciliation bill in one night. So
the claim this is being foisted upon us in a manner which does not
allow for its comprehension is simply incomprehensible.
I yield 2 minutes to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from
Oregon (Mr. DeFazio).
Mr. DeFAZIO. Madam Speaker, let's return to the subject at hand for a
minute. The Republicans are attempting to pretzel into a debate
honoring the heroes of World War II, the Greatest Generation, those who
liberated the Pacific Rim, those who gave their lives, those who
climbed Mount Suribachi against all odds and raised the American flag
so bravely, and they are trying to pretzel into the debate some pretty
strange things. Let me address a couple.
First, we had the gentleman talking about threats to veterans' health
care. There will be nothing in the legislation, the health care
legislation, that in any way impinges upon the health
[[Page H1777]]
care that our veterans have earned. The gentleman is fully aware that
in the House bill, which was thoughtfully written, that that was
mentioned and fully protected.
I am not going to apologize for the bipartisan, and it is bipartisan,
total incompetence of the United States Senate. I am not going to
apologize for that. But we passed a resolution here today to make clear
what our intent was, and what will be in the law: veterans' health care
benefits fully protected.
While I am on the subject of veterans' health care benefits, I saw
the former Chair of the Veterans' Committee here on the floor, and I
would remind people, we need a sense of history. There was a year in
the Bush administration, after repeated cuts to the veterans' budget,
when they were running out of money in June when the Republicans
controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House. And it was the
Democrats who came to the floor and said we need $2 billion more
immediately to deliver on our obligations to our veterans. And there
was a brave guy, he is a Republican, Chris Smith from New Jersey, he
was the chairman of the Veterans' Committee, and he voted with the
Democrats. And you know what the Republican leadership did? They
stripped him of his chairmanship for his advocacy for veterans, and
they put that other gentleman who just spoke previously in the chair in
his stead.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. OWENS. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.
Mr. DeFAZIO. We are still repairing the damage the Bush
administration did to the Veterans Health Administration. They need
better funding. We are on a path now to give them 2 years of certainty
whereas before they were hanging on the cliff, and 1 year in the Bush
Republican era they ran out of money in June when the fiscal year ends
in October, and they were going to close their hospitals. So don't tell
me that you guys here are the great defenders of our veterans.
And then this other gentleman raises this thing about this 3-page
Republican motion to recommit where people changed their vote. I didn't
have to change my vote; I read it. But he might also reveal that that
3-page amendment was only available 1 minute before it was discussed
for 10 minutes on the floor. It was not published online. It was not
made available to Members, and Members did not know the content of
that.
This health care legislation that will be voted on has been online
for 72 hours. The manager's amendment is now up online. That Republican
amendment was available for a grand total of about 11 minutes before
the vote began.
So let's be honest and consistent around here in our arguments, and
let's spend a little more time honoring the Greatest Generation.
Mr. LAMBORN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Madam Speaker, I would like to point out that this pile of paper here
representing 2,310 pages was released to the body 3 days ago, March 17.
This is the text of H.R. 4872 reported from the House Budget Committee.
I would be curious if my colleague from New York has read this 2,300-
page document, as well as the several hundred pages of additional
committee reports since that time, and possibly we will have a
manager's amendment tomorrow. We will find out about that.
But even more substantively, Madam Speaker, is that we are talking
tomorrow about a health care plan that the American people do not want.
We should not be doing this bill tomorrow or at any time. We should
start over with incremental, bipartisan reform that everyone here, or
most of us anyway, could agree with, not a partisan bill that only one
party will be voting for. The bipartisanship here in the House
tomorrow, I suspect, will be the opposition to the bill. There are
mandates in the President's proposed plan for health care as the House
and Senate are taking it up. There are new taxes. There are cuts in
Medicare. There is failure to have tort reform. There is increased
government intervention.
Let me mention the increased government intervention. There will be
new bureaucratic boards that will come up with a definition of quality
and will give more power to the Federal Government through bureaucracy.
Provisions such as the Comparative Effectiveness Research Board, the
Independent Medicare Advisory Board and others will be set up through
this plan. A form of government-run plan will maintain the OPM,
overseeing multistate plans and co-ops. There are still, unfortunately,
sweetheart deals in this plan. The Cornhusker kickback has some
provisions still existing in the current version. The Louisiana
purchase is still there. There are carveouts for unions and other
sweetheart deals.
And, sadly to say, there are broken promises. The President set
several parameters, including that the bill will cost under $900
billion; that has been broken. That there will be no taxes on those
making under 250,000; that promise has been broken. That family's
health insurance premiums would go down by $2,500 a year, and that
promise has been broken. And if individuals liked what they had, they
could keep it, and that will not be kept either.
The bottom line is that some might compare the last-minute inclusion
of a few bread crumbs from the Republican side without true Republican
input or knowledge on fraud, waste and abuse, and subsequent comments
that we are somehow being partisan for standing up for our constituents
and not supporting something that we in principle do not agree with is
just plain wrong.
Now let me say this about reconciliation. House Democratic leaders
have been searching for a way to ensure that any move that they make to
approve the Senate-passed $871 billion health care reform bill as it
came over from the Senate is followed by Senate action on a
reconciliation package of adjustments to the original bill. However,
this is a nonstarter. The Senate Parliamentarian has ruled that
President Barack Obama must sign Congress's original health care reform
bill.
Mr. ISRAEL. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. LAMBORN. I yield briefly to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. ISRAEL. I thank the gentleman. Would the gentleman explain to me
what reconciliation has to do with honoring veterans at Iwo Jima?
Mr. LAMBORN. Reclaiming my time, let me also conclude by saying that
there is another problem with the health care bill that we will be
looking at in a few hours tomorrow afternoon on abortion. Abortion
funding will be required of the taxpayers in our country.
{time} 1730
Current legislation would permit Federal funds to subsidize plans
covering abortion, would permit a multi-State health plan to offer
abortion coverage, and would require citizens in States that have opted
out of elective abortion coverage in their own exchange to still fund
Federal subsidies for plans that cover elective abortion in other
States.
In addition, the bill includes $7 billion in new mandatory spending
on community health centers, funding that is not subject to any
restrictions prohibiting Federal dollars from funding elective
abortions. If the current legislation passes the House without abortion
funding restrictions, such as was I believe properly introduced in the
Representative Bart Stupak amendment, it will be virtually impossible
to alter the language through reconciliation as the two versions are
reconciled over in the Senate since Senate Republicans have said they
will block amendments which require 60 votes to overcome a point of
order under reconciliation.
So for those reasons, I would say that we should not be passing the
bill tomorrow. It will severely degrade the freedom in our country for
those who want to live their lives and not be subject to government
control and intervention in all the intimate decisions that they make
with their doctors for their own health care.
I would yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. OWENS. I yield 1 minute to my friend and colleague, the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Israel).
Mr. ISRAEL. I thank the gentleman.
Madam Speaker, I must say that with all due respect I am profoundly
disappointed. I always thought that the one thing that we could all
agree on in this body without delay, without distraction, without
partisanship and
[[Page H1778]]
without politics, is honoring our veterans. We are discussing a
resolution honoring the veterans of Iwo Jima, and even that has been
politicized, even that has been delayed, even that has been distracted.
Is there anything that you can agree to do with us? Can they not even
agree, Madam Speaker, to pass without delay a resolution honoring our
veterans without politicizing it and injecting partisanship into it and
delay? We are here to honor our veterans. We are here to honor the
memory of people who were at Iwo Jima. And instead we turn it into a
political debate on an unrelated issue. And for that I am profoundly
disappointed.
Mr. OWENS. I yield 2 minutes to my friend and colleague, the
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Perlmutter).
Mr. PERLMUTTER. Madam Speaker, I have had a chance to listen to my
colleague from Colorado take what should be really a glorious
opportunity to honor our vets, to honor vets who served in one of the
bloodiest battles World War II or this world has ever seen generally,
and to start talking about abortion and about the health care bill. I
can't believe that they are taking this approach, Madam Speaker.
I had the opportunity just within the last 2 weeks to work with 11
veterans who served in Iwo Jima who were flying there for the 65th
anniversary, which we are honoring today. And to stand with those men,
who they and so many others just gave everything they had to protect
this Nation, was such a privilege, such an honor. The fact that I and
our office could play any role in helping them get back there for the
ceremony in which the flag was raised was a tremendous privilege for
all of us.
To take the time to veer off into health care when we should be
honoring these gentlemen for their service I think is a travesty, and I
would say that to my friend from Colorado. This is something that is
important. These people served us valiantly. Their service is just
honored and is so celebrated in Colorado that I just wanted to get up
here today, while I am in the midst of the health care debate, to honor
them and to thank them for their service.
Mr. LAMBORN. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. PERLMUTTER. I yield to my colleague from Colorado.
Mr. LAMBORN. My good friend has raised a point. I don't know if he
was able to be here at the beginning of this resolution, but we had a
wonderful discussion about the tremendous valor shown in Iwo Jima. But
this is a discussion also--
Mr. PERLMUTTER. Reclaiming my time from my friend, this hour should
be dedicated to the veterans. That is what I say.
Mr. OWENS. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) that the House suspend the rules
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1099, as amended.
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. OWENS. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
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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