[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19549]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    SITTING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Sammy Mahan is a small business 
entrepreneur. He owns and operates Sammy's Wrecker Service in Baytown, 
Texas. He owns 7 trucks, employs 5 drivers, a dispatcher, and people 
who work the wrecker yard. His drivers work on a commission, and he 
cannot afford to furnish them health insurance.
  He told me how the new government health care plan that mandates 
employers provide employee health benefits would affect him. Leaving 
out his colorful language, he said, ``I am worried to death. This 
government health care bill and the new taxes on energy and small 
business will ruin me. I will have to lay off my drivers. They're all 
young, some with young families, and then they will have no jobs. I 
will be the lone survivor of the business. Then I won't be able to sell 
the wreckers I can't use. Who would buy them? I will be putting the 
trucks on the side of the road next to the kids who have signs saying 
`free kittens' and offering `free wreckers.'''
  Now, Sammy has a point. The government-run health care plan will cost 
jobs and put workers on the street or, shall we say, sitting on the 
side of the road.
  And that's just the way it is.

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