[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21307]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, last night President Obama told us that his 
administration would tackle medical malpractice reform as a way to 
lower health care costs. Defensive medicine practices do drive up the 
cost of health care. It's at least 10 percent of overall cost and as 
much as 40 percent of some procedures, and it should be aggressively 
tackled.
  This is what we have been saying on the Republican side for years. 
But who is it? Who will take on this difficult task? And just how 
committed is President Obama in taking on medical malpractice reform 
and protecting medical providers from trial lawyers? A simple Google 
search shows that Secretary Sebelius was the executive director and the 
head lobbyist for the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association for 8 years. 
That's right, Secretary Sebelius, head of the Health and Human 
Services, was a deep political professional and has personal ties with 
trial lawyers and has been tapped by the President to go after these 
same trial lawyers and figure out just what kind of malpractice reform 
should be put in place.
  I think this is a classical example of what we call a conflict of 
interest. The President has made several publicly embarrassing gaffes 
recently, and when it comes to vetting these people, I would hope that 
he takes more time in vetting Secretary Sebelius.

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