[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 45 (Tuesday, March 23, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2248]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TAKEOVER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the 
President today. Mr. President, you are halfway there. With the 
President's signature on the health care bill today, the Federal 
Government has now taken outright ownership or control of 50 percent of 
the American economy. The President can rightly say that he has 
transformed America. Since the inception of bailout nation in September 
of 2008 with the passage of the $700 billion TARP bailout, the Federal 
Government lollapalooza takeover began and was under way.
  Madam Speaker, President Obama fully embraced the $700 billion 
bailout plan during the first of his Presidential debates with Senator 
John McCain. During December of 2008, President-Elect Obama insisted 
that outgoing President George Bush release billions of dollars to 
create the automobile task force for the purpose of preventing General 
Motors and Chrysler Motors from filing for bankruptcy. But like most 
government interventions, the billions spent on the auto companies did 
not prevent bankruptcy, but it did provide a gentler landing for the 
unions who worked so hard to elect President Obama.
  Banks were bailed out, and the great Wall Street investment houses, 
including Goldman et al., turned themselves into banks to be eligible 
for government-subsidized TARP funds. Soon the Federal Government 
turned its dividend-paying shares into equity shares, and government 
became the outright owner--the shareholder of America's largest banks. 
Next came the unholy bailout of AIG, the largest insurance company in 
America. A sponge for taxpayer money, AIG held toxic derivatives, and 
they've yet to right their ship.
  The Federal Reserve bought massive, copious reams of toxic commercial 
paper from private corporations, and the Federal Government's balance 
sheet forever changed, subsidized by the American taxpayer. Freddie and 
Fannie, the secondary mortgage purchasers, were the center of the 
universe for the financial meltdown. Foolishly they pursued a policy of 
purchasing substandard loans, then repackaging those loans into 
mortgage-backed securities. Freddie and Fannie greedily spread their 
economic cancer throughout the financial world, exposing America's 
taxpayers to potentially trillions of dollars of losses. Freddie and 
Fannie should have been shuttered. They should have been placed into 
receivership. But Uncle Sam, ever the chump, couldn't resist, and now 
Uncle Sam owns 50 percent of America's home mortgages.
  Eager for more, the Obama administration consumed the student loan 
industry, and they completed that transaction today with a signature of 
a pen. A breathtaking 33 percent of the private economy was either 
outright purchased or controlled by the Federal Government in a span of 
10 months' time. But the brass ring of government-controlled health 
care still taunted this administration. Eighteen percent of the private 
economy, the finest health care the world has ever known, was the long-
sought-after prize of the political left.
  Today they realized their dream. At the 11th hour this morning, 
President Obama, with the signing of his name, completed the Federal 
Government takeover of health care. Madam Speaker, 33 percent plus 18 
percent equals 51 percent of the private economy today controlled or 
owned by the Federal Government. It is fitting on this momentous day 
that we pause for a moment of silence and lament the passage of half of 
America's economic freedom. In a stunning 18 months' time, for the 
first time in America's history, the Federal Government now owns or 
controls over 50 percent of the private economy. Madam Speaker, I say 
congratulations, Mr. President. You are halfway there.

                          ____________________